Joan Loveland

I was a WAAF during the Second World War having volunteered for the service at 17 and a half years, the first age you were entitled to join any Armed Forces. I had always liked The Royal Air Force but I also joined up to avoid conscription and being put into munitions to something not of my choice. I wanted to be a Teleprinter Operator but I was offered service as a cook. I said ‘No thank you’ and I was then offered the trade of my choice. I served 3 and a half years altogether – 1 and a half years during wartime in Europe and the rest of the time after that up until July 1947 when I was demobbed. I re ached the rank of sergeant.
Within a few weeks I was sent for and had to present myself to RAF Wilmslow where I spent a month doing my initial training, square bashing and getting my uniform etc. We were not allowed out of the camp until the last day of the month because there were so many American soldiers, or Yanks as we called them, stationed in the town and they were 4 deep on either side of the road outside the camp leading into town waiting to meet and date all the girls and, naturally, the Commanding officers at Wilmslow were concerned for our welfare and so we were banned from going out. We then had to go to Cranwell for a 3 month course to learn all about teleprinting and to test us for typing speeds. I had previously been a trained Secretary. As we could not start the course for about a month we were posted to out stations and I was sent to a peacetime station at Old Sarum, near Salisbury in Wiltshire. Eventually, we were all sent to Cranwell for our course at Number 1 Radio School. Although a War was on and we worked hard on our course, we had a marvellous time there when we were off duty, with plenty of entertainment and ballroom dancing. All Aircrew were trained there and the place was bursting with young men – a rare treat because there was a shortage of young men because they were all away somewhere fighting the war. There was so many people in the camp that ballroom dancing went on morning, noon and night, and Sunday afternoon in the gym to entertain everybody when they were off duty. We were all doing different shifts. It is interesting that a few years ago I saw an article in the paper saying that the Commanding Officer at Cranwell had ordered personnel to take dancing lessons from a tutor he had installed because hardly anybody on the camp could dance and he felt they should have this training in order to mix socially successfully. I could not believe this after our dancing war years. We started our course and I did very well, jumping 2 ranks to pass out as Leading Aircraft Women and receiving my props badge. The Normandy Invasion (Second Front) started at this time and we saw all planes and gliders going over on that fatal day. It was a sight never to be forgotten.
After my passing out parade on the famous Orange lawn at Cranwell I went back to Old Sarum RAF Station for a while. A few months later, however, my father unfortunately died before his time and I was given a compassionate posting to Fighter Command at Bentley Priory and, secondly, to Bush House in The Aldwych in London where I was able to live out at home. One day, I was told I was going on a teleprinter course at Bletchley for 3 weeks. I was told nothing about the course apart from that. I was told I had to travel to Leighton Buzzard RA. Station where we were billeted. We were bussed into the place where the course was taking place every day. We never saw the front entrance, entering at the back of the place. We stayed there all day having lunch in the big mansion and attending weekly pay parades there whilst doing the course. We were picked up again around 5pm and returned to Leighton Buzzard. I seem to remember a lot of big machinery surrounded by glass in the main hall with occasional personnel moving about. I never knew what the place was called and thought that I had not gone to Bletchley after all, just Leighton Buzzard. I learned how to type 5 letter codes in 5 columns on a machine called the Perforator which turned into a tape like a Pianola tape and then to send the tape through to a station at high speed on an attachment in the teleprinter. I thought they were signals in our codes to prevent any of our information falling into enemy hands, how wrong I was. After 3 weeks I returned to my station and carried on doing this work only, until my demob. I seemed to be the only person handling these coded messages on my Watch.
I did not know that the place where my course was held was Bletchley Park. We were not told its name. The place was absolutely overflowing with people in all types of uniform. I thought everyone was on a different course and many courses were run there. I have, though often wondered about this period in my service and I felt I did not know much about it which was intrigueting. I noticed also a statement in my pay book on demob that I was demobbed as a Member of the Bletchley Group. What was that I wondered? Did it have anything to do with that course and was that Bletchley where I was.   
A few years ago, Diana Dors’ (old-time film star of my day) son came over to England from America. His mother had told him before she died that she had stashed away 3 million pounds and the names of the banks where this money would be found under some code. This was on television and I watched the programme. He found out about the Bletchley codes and up they came on the T.V screen. These were ones I had typed all those years ago and I told my husband about them. He was referred to higher authority on codes in order to decipher them and this authority told him they had never seen them before and could not help him. I was speechless and could not understand this. He went back to America with the mystery unsolved.
Within the last 10 years I went on a visit to Bletchley Park with my husband’s branch of The Normandy Veterans. I was eager to see this place. Upon arrival there I said – Hey I have been here before. The pieces then began over the years to fall into place, the news broke to public and I, and many others were recognised for the secret work they had all been doing, especially Alan Turing and his Team. I am glad about that.