Heroic bravery of female shopkeeper revealed after sheltering British troops from Nazis during WWII

The heroic wartime bravery of a British shopkeeper who hid Allied commandos from the Nazis during WWII has been revealed 40 years after her death.Ada Le Poidevin sheltered three British soldiers after they were left behind during a raid on Nazi-occupied Guernsey in 1940, despite German troops living next door.In July that year, Corporal Dennis Dumper, Private Fred Drain and Private Andrew Ross were left stranded on the island without food or shelter.Ada and her husband Walter stepped in, hiding them in their garden shed despite the severe consequences if they were discovered.The soldiers eventually realized they had little choice but to surrender to the Nazis and were taken as prisoners of war.But all three survived the conflict and remained close to Ada and Walter, regularly returning to Guernsey to visit them and even attending the couple’s Golden Wedding celebration.It was the second time Ada had put herself in danger during wartime, having spent two years supporting British troops in France during WWI, where camps she worked in came under enemy fire and suffered heavy shell damage.Now her story has been pieced together by her niece Liz Walton, 79, using a treasure trove of photographs and diaries alongside records on Ancestry.com.She said: “There were huge risks because there were Germans living next door, and people were being sent off to concentration camps – they were terrified of being caught.“It must have been absolutely horrendous for people like my aunt, who had been involved in the First World War just relatively few years before, and then 20 years later to have the Germans actually in their homes.”Liz, a retired teacher from Guernsey, turned detective to match her aunt’s personal accounts and photographs with official wartime records.She had been fascinated by Ada’s stories since childhood and inherited her collection of diaries and photographs when she died aged 88.Simon Pearce, military genealogist at Ancestry.com, said: “Stories like...