WW2 codebreaker remembers ‘going wild’ on VE Day

A World War Two codebreaker has recalled the “wonderful” moment she heard Winston Churchill speak during VE Day celebrations in London in 1945.

Betty Hollingbery, 102, had been based at Bletchley Park, helping to decipher coded enemy messages, during the conflict.

She had originally signed up to the Women’s Royal Navy Service when war broke out but was later selected for “special services” at the top secret site in Milton Keynes.

Born in West Bromwich but now living in Meltham, West Yorkshire, she said she remembered “going wild” after news the war had ended broke.

“We dashed into London, we dashed up The Mall and joined thousands of people there because people had come from all over.

“We were like sardines packed together.

“We were screaming ‘we want the King’ and ‘we want the Queen’.”

Victory in Europe Day, known as VE Day, on 8 May marks the day the Allies formally accepted Germany’s surrender in 1945.

Mrs Hollingbery said she was among an enormous group of people when Churchill addressed the crowd, but despite being “so overcome, I couldn’t hear” she said it had been a “wonderful” moment.

Describing her military career, she said she was not initially sure which of the forces would be the most suitable.

“I didn’t know which one to apply for and I tried on all the hats and I didn’t like the way my hair came out of the army and air force,” she said.

“I tried on a WRNS hat and I thought ‘that’s nice, it’ll keep my hair down’.”

However, after a few weeks she and five others were sent to Eastcote, near Harrow.

“We had a meeting there and they told us ‘you mustn’t do this, you mustn’t do that, you have to sign the Secrets Act,” she said.

“We were told it was a very important job.”

Following that meeting she was sent to Bletchley, where she operated a Bombe machine, developed by Alan Turing, to help crack the Enigma code used by the Nazis.

She said she had kept the details of her work a complete secret, not even daring to discuss it with her colleagues.

“We never spoke about it. We just didn’t,” she said.

“When we left quarters to go into London, we never talked about it amongst ourselves because we thought someone might be listening in.”

Mrs Hollingbery’s effort was celebrated on Thursday by members of the theatre production “Hush Hush” – which tells the story of the Bletchley Park code breakers – who serenaded her at her West Yorkshire home.