David Miliband

Foreign Secretary

FCO Logo
« Opportunities in... | Main | Geneva at 60 »
Tuesday 14 July, 2009

Thanking the Bletchley code breakers

On Thursday we will launch commemorative badges to the brave and brilliant code breakers who deciphered the codes the Nazis used to encrypt their military and intelligence communications during the Second World War. I emphasised last week the debt of gratitude we owe to all who served at Bletchley Park and its out-stations.

Working against extraordinary mathematical odds and heavy time constraints they puzzled through encrypted messages picked up by a web of wireless intercept stations and, historians say, shortened the war by up to two years. Nor do I forget that it was Polish army officers who helped by passing on their intelligence on Enigma in July 1939.

Posted at 17:48 14 July 2009 by David Miliband  |  Comments[6]

  • Share this with:
Comments:

David, the magnanimous offer to commemorate the 'brave and brilliant' comes too late for many of them. I knew one lady who worked at Bletchley during the second world war. She kept all but the fact that she worked there a secret unto her deathbed. Your gratitude and badge counts for too little; much too little and far too late.

Posted by Paul E on July 14, 2009 at 09:34 PM BST #

Hi David, Happy Birthday!

Posted by Dakshayani P on July 15, 2009 at 09:02 AM BST #

Did our friends at Bletchley Park not invent the computer along the way? That was pretty good going I think.

Posted by Number1BadBoy on July 16, 2009 at 10:58 AM BST #

They deserve our acknowledgment and gratitude even if it is knowing how vitally important the work they did was that must be the true source of satisfaction to them.

Posted by OwenE2 on July 16, 2009 at 02:00 PM BST #

It is great that the veterans have received this recognition, but we need to do more. Bletchley Park needs short term funding from government to help it turn itself around after the many years of neglect. There are over 1000 of the 12000 or so veterans still alive who could share their stories of what happened at Bletchley Park with us. We should be recording their memories for posterity. So that we understand what happened, but also so that the history that is recorded is the correct one. Something serious and substantial needs to be done now, before we lose this important piece of history. Please help if you can: http://savingbletchleypark.org

Posted by Sue Black on July 16, 2009 at 10:50 PM BST #

It is great that the veterans have received this recognition, but we need to do more. Bletchley Park needs short term funding from government to help it turn itself around after the many years of neglect. There are over 1000 of the 12000 or so veterans still alive who could share their stories of what happened at Bletchley Park with us. We should be recording their memories for posterity. So that we understand what happened, but also so that the history that is recorded is the correct one. Something serious and substantial needs to be done now, before we lose this important piece of history. Please help if you can: http://savingbletchleypark.org

Posted by Sue Black on July 16, 2009 at 11:24 PM BST #

Post a Comment:
  • HTML Syntax: NOT allowed