大象传媒

This story was submitted to the People鈥檚 War Site by Three Counties Action, on behalf of Ethel Constance Davies, and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site鈥檚 terms and conditions.

During the war from 1941/1945 my husband and I were on detached duty to the Foreign Office M16 know as the Radio Security Corps we were employed as wireless operators at Sandridge Radio Station code name 5DG. There were many of these stations at strategic places around the country and they were known as (Y) stations.

Our job was to monitor enemy Morse transmissions which were sent in a five figure of letter code, the time frequency and place was then written on a message pad and these in turn were then sent to Bletchley Park known as (CMY) for deciphering. We were issued regularly with lists of frequencies that were to be monitored and approximate times of transmissions so that the vital data being sent by our agents from behind enemy lines could be collected. Some frequencies were monitored continuously the Vatican being one in particular while others were on random search.
Every Morse Operator has a unique style of sending and so after a while you recognised who was sending the message.

We had 100 staff at Sandridge out of which 75 were men and the rest women. They were recruited from the Royal Navy, Merchant Navy, Cable and Wireless, and Post Office.
I joined the GPO in 1921 as a telegraphist and remained as such until 1931, during this period all telegrams were sent in Morse code via land lines to post offices around the world.

The GPO installed teleprinters in 1931 so the position of telegraphist was no longer required. So at the beginning of hostilities in 1939 there were very few telegraphists able to read Morse code at the required speed. Within a day or so after joining the service we were sent on a refresher course for two weeks after which we could read up to 30 words a minute.

The enemy Morse transmissions were monitored 24 hours a day and were collected by a courier from (CMY) Bletchley Park all hours of the day and night. We worked 8 and 12 hour shifts which was very tiring especially if the signals were very week, and your concentration was tested to the limits.

Because of petrol rationing it was not possible to live at home and travel to Cuffley each day so we had digs in St Albans. Although the Radio Station had a fully equipped kitchen with all mod cons it was never used. Officially under the secrets act we didn鈥檛 exist so no food was delivered to the site. Sandwiches and soup were brought in from home and any other goodies we could lay our hands on. We were instructed when the hostilities ceased that we were to destroy any books we may have with addresses of personnel or any other documentation, this we did and they were burnt.

I often wondered what happened to all the friends we made, as it was a very special time in our lives. I am now approaching my 100th birthday and I don鈥檛 suppose there are many volunteers left able to recall life at (SDG).

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