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This story was submitted to the People’s War site by Odilia Roberts from the Derby Action Team on behalf of Annie Sylvia Pulley and has been added to the site with her permission. The author fully understands the site’s terms and conditions.

In 1942 I had just started a three year course at Birmingham College of Art. I had to register at seventeen and a half and as I knew that by the time I was eighteen I would be compelled to do some form of war work, I volunteered for the Women’s Royal Naval Service. After a lengthy interview I was asked if I would be willing to train for a job which they knew nothing about and neither would I until I had done my basic training and been accepted. This seemed reasonable to me, as I didn’t have a great deal to offer as an art student.

In August 1942 I went to Mill Hill for two weeks probation. One week of lectures about the Royal Navy and drill and one week of household chores — up at 5 o’clock to do two hours work before breakfast at seven. Scrubbing and polishing and as many dirty jobs as could be found. All part of the test for suitability, I suppose. They could turn you down after two weeks or you could leave. I had to give three references, which were checked, and after five weeks I was posted to Bletchley. On arriving at the station I and three other Wrens were put into a Black Maria. I suppose this was all part of the need to impress upon us the importance of secrecy. We eventually arrived at Gayhurst Manor, a beautiful Elizabethan house, where I lived for the next two years. Next morning we were taken to Bletchley Park and after signing the Official Secrets Act we were taken to the Bombe room, Hut 11, and introduced to the work we would be doing. The Hut was a low building of reinforced concrete, it had no windows and was extremely hot from the generators required for the machines. We were told never to talk about the work we did, not even to the other members in the Park, once we were outside the hut in which we worked. The penalties for careless talk would be prison.

We wore no category badge and were told to say we were ‘writers’ if questioned. We worked watches, 8am - 4pm, 4pm - 12 midnight, 12 midnight - 8am. We had one day off a week and four a half days off duty every month. The Wrens had been chosen to operate the Bombes that broke the Enigma coded messages of the Germans. Officially we were known as Special Duties X, H.M.S. Pembroke V, W.R.N.S.

The pressures of our work, the need for accuracy, speed and the watch keeping sometimes took its toll. That is why we had four and a half days off every month. Outside work we had a good social life. The Wrens were always in great demand. We were young and to most of us it was a great adventure.

When the war in Europe ended I volunteered for service in Colombo, Ceylon. I was to be trained in breaking the Japanese code. I was there one week when mercifully the war ended.

It was in Colombo, that the real tragedy of war hit me. Wrens not on duty were helping the Red Cross with the prisoners of war returning from the Japanese camps. Those well enough to come ashore were given new clothing and entertained by many Wrens. I was sorting mail in the ballroom at Government House. The ships were in the harbour for little more than twenty four hours. As they arrived we were given a list of those on board and we sorted through the thousands of telegrams and letters, working well into the night, if necessary. Two of us took the mail out to the ship on a naval launch. Here we were surrounded by the men who were not well enough to go ashore. They were eager to talk and wanted to know what things were like back home. Those who were so very sick lay in rows on the deck, too ill to care.

Churchill called the work done at Bletchley Park ‘his Ultra Secret’, and at one time thanked the Wrens for ‘laying the golden eggs without clucking’!

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