大象传媒

Eileen Murray left her home in Rock Street, Salford, to commence duty with the WRNS in October 1941. Her brother, Leslie, who was serving in the Royal Navy, took her down to Greenwich, for her initial training.
She was posted to HMS Pembroke but allocated to special dutues at "Station X", where she served until 6, June, 1945.
Station X was, of course, Bletchley Park, where the German Enigma codes were broken.
Eileen worked in Hut 11 on the "Bombes", the fast-running machine used to decode German messages.
She was promoted to Leading Wren and, later to Petty Officer. As Head of Watch, her job was to prepare the "Menus" to be run through the machines.
During this period, Eileen and her colleagues were billeted in a number of beautiful old country houses around Bletchley Park, including Crawley Grange and Woburn Abbey.
Memories of this period include visits by King George VI, Churchill, Montgomery and Eisenhower. She particularly remembers the interest taken by the King in each of the people working there. She also remembers the boffins, such as Alan Turing.
Being at Station X, a classified operation, brought its difficulties. One one trip back from leave, Eileen and her friend, Thea, missed their train connection. When they were asked by the MP's about their unit, they were unable to give details. This immediately aroused suspicion; so they had to give a telephone number of an officer at Bletchley. The MP returned and said they would give them every assistance to get back to Bletchley.
In 1945, the work at Bletchley was drawing to a close and operators were needed to transfer to the Far East to continue the fight against the Japanese. Eileen was about to sail when her father died and she was allowed compassionate leave. The ship she was due to sail on was sunk by the Japanese, with great loss of life.
The Wrens were given the option of demobilisation or transfer to another category. On 1 August, 1945, Eileen transferred to the Fleet Mail and was posted to the C in C Naval Command at Minden in Germany. It was there that she met my father, Noel Taylor (see D-Day to Germany), whom she married in December 1946, after being "demobbed" in the preceding September.
Eileen was awarded two medals for her war service. She was bound by the Official Secrets Act and never spoke about her work on ULTRA until that period of history became public, 30 years later.

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