First Minister celebrates two Welsh Bletchley Park code breakers
Two Welsh women who served as code breakers during the Second World War, have been celebrated by the First Minister for their crucial work.
Kath Morris and Gwenfron Picken, who live just 10 minutes away from each other, only found out recently that they had both worked at the secretive intelligence facility, Bletchley Park.
The veterans, both 101 years old, were part of a team decoding enemy communications, which helped shorten the war and saved many lives.
Their work remained classified for decades after the war ended.
Kath from Neath and Gwenfron from Port Talbot got together at a local church to share memories of their time at Bletchley Park with each other and Eluned Morgan.
Surrender
The celebration of their efforts during the war comes ahead of VE day on the 8th of May, which marked the end of World War Two in Europe after Germany’s unconditional surrender.
Reflecting on becoming a code breaker, Kath Morris said: “I was eighteen when I received a letter to go to the Foreign Office, I was given a typing test and interviewed but I had no idea what it was about. I then received a letter to attend Bletchley Park and I signed the Official Secrets Act.
“I decoded morse code and passed it to the next person. I was a small cog in a big machine. I didn’t even tell my husband about my job until years later.”
Nurse
Gwenfron Picken said: “I was eighteen when I was called for an interview where I was asked what I wanted to do to support the war effort, I said a nurse, but I received a letter saying I needed to go to London for an interview. After that I was told to go to Bletchley Park where my work started. I am very proud of my service, I made friends there and had a promotion during my time at Bletchley Park.”
Eluned Morgan, said: “It’s an honour to meet these extraordinary women whose work at Bletchley Park was vital to our wartime effort.”
“Their story reminds us of the many unsung heroes who served in silence for decades.”
“Kath and Gwenfron represent the very best of Welsh contribution to the war effort.”
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A fantastic thing. The part Bletchley played in defeating the nazi is immense and these ladies all did astounding work that went unreported for security reasons for decades. The podcasts are superb and you can hear many of the ladies explain what they did in their own words.
https://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/
Impressed by how those two ladies remain sharp at 101. Politicians and other “leaders” would do well to take life lessons from them.