The Virginia Hall Legacy Foundation
I Shall Find a Way or Make One.
Preserving historical memory, strengthening relationships among allies, and educating future generations.
Purpose
An escape across the mountains, and a history worth keeping.
In November 1942, Virginia Hall, an American working with Britain’s Special Operations Executive in occupied France, escaped across the Pyrenees into Spain. She crossed difficult mountain terrain with a prosthetic leg while at risk of capture. Her escape was one episode in a longer career of intelligence and resistance work.
Hall’s work relied on cooperation among Americans, Britons, French resistance members, and other allies. The Foundation will preserve that history, build relationships across allied countries through shared educational experiences, and introduce students and the wider public to examples of courage, judgment, and service.
Read how it began
Our Mission · Past, Present, Future
Three purposes, one motto.
Virginia Hall is the Foundation’s namesake and central inspiration. Its programs will also examine lesser-known individuals and networks whose contributions to the Allied resistance deserve wider attention.
Preserve the legacy of Virginia Hall, her fellow members of the Allied resistance, and lesser-known individuals whose wartime actions deserve wider recognition.
Strengthen personal bonds of friendship, trust, and cooperation between Americans and their European allies.
Inspire students and future generations to understand and practice the courage, resilience, ingenuity, judgment, and spirit of service exemplified by Virginia Hall.
Our Signature Experience
The Virginia Hall Memorial Trek
A guided expedition along a historically plausible Pyrenean route, paired with instruction on Hall’s escape and the Allied networks that helped people cross borders during the war.
How It Began
A portrait in London, and a question about a route.
The initiative began at London’s Special Forces Club, where a former CIA officer recognized a portrait of Virginia Hall also displayed at CIA headquarters. He discussed Hall’s history with a former British intelligence officer familiar with the Pyrenees and wartime escape networks.
In October 2026, the inaugural Virginia Hall Pyrenees Trek followed a historically informed route from Mantet, France, across the Spanish border to Setcases and onward to Camprodon.
The full story
Remember the Way. Forge a Way Together. Empower Others to Find Their Way.