Violette sent her baby to childminders while she worked at the South Morden aircraft factory where her father was stationed. Then she was told of her husband's death in action. Étienne had died on 24 October 1942 at the beginning of the Second Battle of El Alamein; he had never seen his daughter. It was Étienne's death that made Violette accept an offer to train as a field agent in the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). It was her best way to fight the enemy.