大象传媒

The sixtieth anniversary of the ending of the Second World War reminded our family of the unique part played by our uncle Eddy(Edmund Hulme). He was the man who sent out the notice, which ended the war.
Edmund Hulme was born in Salford on 20th January 1908. He was an only child, who was very intelligent and won a scholarship to Salford Grammar School. He wore thick glasses and was a keen stamp collector, with a special interest in the stamps of Austria and Germany. Being very good at maths, he worked as a clerk for a Manchester insurance company.
The war started but he was not called up until 1942. To everyone's surprise, he joined the Royal Air Force and became a Flight Sergeant. When the Allied forces landed in Normandy, he joined General Eisenhower's staff at Supreme Headquarters and remained with Eisenhower to the end of the war in Europe. He specialised in codes and ciphers and always got on well with Eisenhower personally. He was always very reluctant to talk about his position at the nerve centre of the war, but as an old man, he asked me to be his executor and casually mentioned that he had the actual piece of paper which had ended the war. When I asked him how he came by it, he told me that General Eisenhower had called him in to his office and had dictated the notice. After Eddy had sent it to all forces, he simply folded it up and put it in his pocket. He said that I could have it when he died, but not before, as he thought the Official Secrets Act might still apply!
It is interesting that the message is dated 7th May, marked Secret and Urgent, saying that the German High Command had signed the Unconditional Surrender at 0141 hours, but that all forces would cease active operations at 0001 hours on 9th May.No release was to be made to the press, pending an announcement by the heads of the three governments.
After the war,he returned to the insurance company and became president of the Manchester Philatelic Society. During his time with Eisenhower,and using his expertise , he had collected masses of un-issued German stamps and he gradually sold these, to pay for his first car(and its garage).
He died on 4th July 1993. His widow, Beatrice,did last year.

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