A WAAF at war

 This must surely be the last of the first-hand accounts of the work of Bletchley Park, maybe even of World War Two service in general. ITV reports: 

A 100-year-old WWII veteran, who intercepted German secret messages in Bletchley Park, has released her memoirs.

Born in Mansfield, Margaret Wilson served in the Woman's Auxillary Airforce (WAAF) before transferring to the famous code-breaking complex.

'A WAAF at War', is the story of her role, and women like her, who volunteered to join the fight against the Nazis. 

That the memoirs appeared at all is a tribute to the work of Blind Veterans UK (formerly St Dunstans) and in particular to fellow blind veteran Simon Mahoney. 

The pair struck up a friendship together when Simon signed up as a telephone befriender for us during the Covid-19 pandemic and was assigned to Margaret.

Simon says: “Having listened to and been in awe of Margaret’s amazing stories for over four years I jokingly suggested that she should write a book. She said ‘I leave that sort of thing to you.’ And in that moment a mad idea was born.”

Over the course of the next eight months, Simon, who lost all of his sight in 2018 and has written three books of his own, interviewed Margaret and typed up the book using a specially adapted PC and word-processing software that we supplied him with.

Simon continues: “If it wasn’t for the adaptive kit that Blind Veterans UK gave me and trained me up on, there’s no way that Margaret’s amazing life story would have been able to have been told in this book.”

Blind Veterans UK, Barrow-in-Furness Women’s Co-operative, Royal British Legion Derbyshire and Association of Royal Naval Officers all gave substantial financial assistance that allowed the book to be produced and published.

Elizabeth Fothergill CBE, HM Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire, says: “A WAAF at War is a feast of glorious detail into the world of war through a woman’s eyes, brought to life through Margaret’s tremendous memories and Simon’s creative skills.

“One of the great pleasures of being His Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant for the county of Derbyshire is the opportunity to meet and celebrate some truly exceptional people. Simon and Margaret are certainly up there with the best.”

 

The work of Blind Veterans UK goes on, since conflicts involving the British services have not ceased, and seem unlikely to do so. So please give to the charity, even if it is only by buying their lottery tickets.