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This story was submitted to the People’s War website by Maddy Rhodes a volunteer with Radio Suffolk, on behalf of Joan Melville — Jackson who has given permission for it to be added to the site. Mrs. Melville — Jackson fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

Before the war, I worked in London at Guy’s Hospital as a medical secretary to a cancer specialist. After the war started, it became much more difficult for people to travel, so patients couldn’t keep their appointments or attend for treatment. I had less and less to do, so I decided to join the ranks of the WAAF. My job was left open for me to return to once the war was over.
After initial training, I was commissioned and went to Whaddon Manor to work for a branch of MI6. When I arrived Brigadier Gambier-Parry said, ‘Not another Joan — we’ve got five already. You’ll be called Johnny!’ So Johnny I was throughout the war!
I didn’t work directly with the Enigma machine, but I was involved in intelligence gathering using information gathered from the decoding. I had signed the Official Secrets Act and must have been recognised as having a good security record . After completing an Admin. Course I had an interview with a WAAF Officer who said that they had a job in mind for me which would mean that I would wear civilian clothing rather than my WAAF uniform. I wasn’t to keen on this because I was so proud of my uniform.
I think that I was very fortunate to end up doing what I did. It was a most interesting job Another poor girl who’d gone through training with me and who was very intelligent, spent the war issuing uniforms. I became PA to Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder who worked closely with Eisenhower, and who had responsibility for operations in Normandy.
I met General Eisenhower once. I was at a party, chatting to Jimmy Gault, Eisenhower’s English Military Attache when Ike came over to us.‘Trust my MA to find the prettiest girl in the room’ he said. He really knew how to turn on the charm!
On my first morning, my boss put a document marked ‘Top Secret’ on my desk. He told me that I must read it, and that it was my responsibility to keep it safely at all times. It was the masterplan for Operation Overlord, code name for the invasion of Normandy and the D Day landings, and it gave the exact location and date of the landings. It was kept in my office safe, and only came out when the Air Chief Marshal wanted to refer to it. I became familiar with the names of the beaches : Juno, Sword, Gold, Utah and Omaha.
I used to socialise with American and Canadian personel. I sometimes went to London theatres with one of the American officers. After one theatre trip he said that he would try to get tickets for a new Rattigan play the following weekend. I knew that by the following weekend rather than being in London, he would be on a Normandy beach. Of course he didn’t know that and I couldn’t tell him. It was a very weird feeling.
As for D Day itself, it was vitally important to have the right weather conditions, so we were in constant contact with Group Captain Stagg the chief SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force) met. Officer. We needed a 24 hour window of opportunity. Even when we seemed to have the all clear, I wasn’t certain that it would take place. I woke up at 3 o’clock in the morning and heard the planes going over, and then I knew that Operation Overlord was underway.

This story continues under the title ‘My invasion of Europe’

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