Editing F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas (section)

==Early life==
Forest Frederick Edward Yeo-Thomas was born in London to John Yeo Thomas, a [[coal merchant]], and Daisy Ethel Thomas (born Burrows). Early in his life, his family moved to [[Dieppe, Seine-Maritime|Dieppe]], France. He spoke both English and French fluently. Lying about his age, he enlisted in the US Army at the age of 16 and served on the Western Front as a dispatch rider in 1918. He saw action in the [[Polish-Soviet War]] of 1919 and 1920, fighting alongside the Poles. He was captured by the Soviet forces and avoided execution by escaping, in the process strangling a Soviet guard.

Between the wars, Yeo-Thomas held a number of jobs. He trained as an apprentice engineer with Rolls-Royce then became an accountant for a firm of travel agents before joining [[Edward Molyneux|Molyneux]] in 1932, a successful fashion-house in Paris, rising to become a director.