"Maria Gulovich Liu, who as a young schoolteacher in Slovakia during World War II joined the underground resistance as a courier and later helped a small group of American and British intelligence agents evade the German Army as they fled through the frigid mountains to safety, has died. She was 87.
Liu, who received a Bronze Star for her "heroic and meritorious" service to the Office of Strategic Services, died of colon cancer Friday at her home in Port Hueneme, said Jim Downs, a family friend.
"I interviewed men who were with her, and they were flabbergasted by how brave she was," said Downs, who first met Liu when he interviewed her for his 2002 book "World War II: OSS Tragedy in Slovakia."
In the book, former U.S. Army Sgt. Ken Dunlevy, who escaped Slovakia with Liu and three other intelligence agents, called her "our little sweetheart for whom I am and will be grateful forever. To her, it is no doubt that I owe my safety and perhaps my life."
Liu was born Maria Gulovich on Oct. 19, 1921, in the village of Jarabina, near the Polish border."
May she RIP
Maria Gulovich Liu dies at 87; helped American agents during WWII -- latimes.com
Maria Gulovich Liu dies at 87; helped American agents during WWII
