PEOPLE YOU SHOULD KNOW

This interpreter and codebreaker made history as the first Puerto Rican woman to serve in the U.S. Army. Carmen Contreras-Bozak joined the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps just six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Skilled with languages, she worked as an interpreter and was stationed overseas in Africa. There, she was given the important task of sending and receiving coded messages from the battlefield. Throughout her life, Contreras-Bozak advocated for veterans and received many honors for her contributions to the country.

There were several female spies during World War II, but Odette Sansom was one of the bravest. Born in France, Sansom moved to England where she was recruited by the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). During the war, the secret organization sent her to France to work undercover.

In 1943, she was captured by the Nazis and questioned about her fellow agents. Although she was tortured, Sansom refused to answer their questions. She miraculously survived months of imprisonment inside a concentration camp, and after the war, Sansom became the first woman ever to be awarded the George Cross for her supreme bravery.

This courageous diplomat saved thousands of Jewish lives during World War II. Born in 1900, Sugihara grew up in Japan’s Gifu Prefecture. After finishing school, he joined the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and eventually landed a post in Eastern Europe.

Sugihara was in Lithuania when the Soviet Union occupied the country. Many Jewish refugees living there wanted to escape and needed travel visas. In 1940, Sugihara did not wait for his government’s approval before he granted thousands of visas. Even when he was ordered to stop, Sugihara continued to write visas until the last moment. His heroic actions ultimately rescued multitudes of Jewish people from the terrors of the Holocaust.

After the war, Sugihara was pressured to leave the Japanese foreign service to find work. Years later, however, he finally received the recognition he deserved. In 1984, two years before his death, the country of Israel gave Sugihara the honorary title, "Righteous Among the Nations," for risking his life and career to help the Jewish people.