Heroine Wake a 'role model for courage'

Tributes have flowed from both sides of the Tasman in honour of World War II heroine Nancy Wake, who has died in hospital aged 98.

New Zealand-born Ms Wake grew up in Sydney and after a brief stint as a nurse, worked as a journalist in

Europe, where she married a French businessman in 1939.

Trapped in France when the Nazis invaded, Ms Wake worked with the Resistance as a courier and later as an effective saboteur and spy.

She became the Gestapo's most wanted person, receiving the enduring nickname "The White Mouse".

RSL national president Rear Admiral Ken Doolan has paid tribute to the courage of Ms Wake and says she remains a great role model for all Australians fighting for freedom.

"What Nancy Wake did was quite unique and for her time she stood up in the most courageous way, and she's a tremendous role model in that respect," he said.

Ms Wake is regarded as a heroine in France, which decorated her with its highest honour, the Legion d'Honneur, as well as three Croix de Guerre and a French Resistance Medal.

Victorian RSL president David McLachlan told ABC local radio that Ms Wake thwarted the Gestapo with her every attempt.

"She was very much involved in providing information for the planning of D-Day," he said.

"She parachuted back in behind enemy lines after she'd been back to England.

"The Gestapo hated her, wanted her, more than anybody else, and she was an incredibly brave woman."

Close friend Les Partell says Ms Wake, who died just days before her 99th birthday, earned her nickname because she was so hard to capture.

"They could not catch her," he said.

"Whenever somebody dobbed her in, they would go there and she would be gone. Nancy would get away from them.

"The world offered a reward for anyone who could catch The White Mouse. They grabbed her husband, Henri, and the Gestapo tortured him to death."

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says Ms Wake was a woman of exceptional courage who had saved the lives of hundreds of allied personnel during World War II.

"Our nation honours a truly remarkable individual whose selfless valour and tenacity will never be forgotten," she said.

"Nancy Wake will remain an abiding inspiration to generations of Australians."

Across the Tasman, New Zealand veterans' affairs minister Judith Collins says Ms Wake's achievements have been acknowledged by members of the Special Forces, past and present.

"Her death will deeply affect many veterans, who will view her passing with a great sense of loss," she said.

She says while Ms Wake had lived most of her life abroad, she had visited family in her home country as a teenager.

Gillard at ground zero

AN EMOTIONAL Julia Gillard has toured Minamisanriku, a once tranquil Japanese fishing town that was obliterated by the recent tsunami.

The Prime Minister, who was the first foreign dignitary to tour the devastated region, joined the town's mayor, Jin Sato, to survey the devastated frame of a building that was once the town's disaster management centre.

Mr Sato was inside when the torrent of water hit. He fled to the roof and hung on as the wave engulfed the building, sweeping his friends and colleagues to their deaths.

Ms Gillard was close to tears and gave Mr Sato a comforting embrace as he told her his story.

The Prime Minister said she had never seen anything like it - it looked as if the town had been ''bombed into oblivion''.

''The scale of this truly just does leave you speechless,'' Ms Gillard said yesterday. ''On one level, you can't take it in because it's just so much. It's a scene of incredible tragedy and incredible sorrow.''

More than 25,000 people are believed to have been killed by the March 11 tsunami - thousands died in Minamisanriku alone. Early reports said about half the town's population was killed. Ms Gillard also visited an evacuation centre to introduce herself to locals, who lost homes and loved ones.

She handed soft koala toys from Tourism Australia to excited children and announced a package of food aid for the townspeople. The package included cans of soup, baked beans and spaghetti, cookies, beef jerky and chocolate biscuits including Tim Tams.

Mr Sato and the Japanese government requested the food and toy package. ''We hope this food aid will help the people of Minamisanriku at this very difficult time, and in their immense task of rebuilding,'' Ms Gillard said.

She almost did not make it to the town after her flight into nearby Sendai - also hard hit by the tsunami - was delayed by bad weather and visibility. She had been expected to take a helicopter to the shattered town in the Miyagi prefecture but the delay forced her to take a bus instead.

Ms Gillard was accompanied by Rob McNeil, the leader of the Australian search and rescue team, which helped Japanese authorities in the search for survivors in the Minamisanriku wreckage last month.

Mr McNeil said he had found it hard to say goodbye.

''I looked into the proud fire commander's eyes from the Kyoto fire department and I couldn't help but think of how he must feel, knowing that thousands of his country's families and homes had been destroyed and lost forever,'' the ABC reported. ''He and his team reminded me of the samurai spirit.''

Ms Gillard arrived in the South Korean capital, Seoul, yesterday for the next leg of her north Asian tour.