One of the ‘s oldest surviving World War II code-breakers has passed away at the age of 101, the Women’s Royal Army Corps Association (WRAC) reported on Tuesday.
Charlotte “Betty” Webb worked at Bletchley Park, the famous British code-breaking center just north of London, where she would sort and index communications which had been intercepted and deciphered.
What was Betty Webb’s job at Bletchley Park?
A German speaker, Webb’s job involved reordering decoded messages in such a way that, if re-intercepted during forwarding to Allied commanders, the enemy would not know that their own original transmissions were being deciphered.
A member of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), Webb went on to paraphrase intercepted messages at The Pentagon in the in aid of the American war effort in the Pacific.
In 2015, she was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and, in 2021, she was awarded the Legion d’Honneur, ‘s highest distinction, in recognition of her wartime service.
Betty Webb: ‘A champion of female veterans’
“Betty inspired women in the Army for decades and we will continue to take pride in her service during WWII and beyond, and as a champion of female veterans,” read a WRAC statement, marking her passing.
Webb kept her work a secret until 1975, after which she began to give talks to schools and other organizations. She also wrote a book about her experiences, helping to keep alive the legacy of Bletchley Park – which was the subject of the 2014 movie The Imitation Game.
“Betty was not only a member of the incredible team at Bletchley Park during World War II, but she also dedicated much of her life to raising the profile of Bletchley Park in more recent years,” Bletchley Park said in a statement.
“Her tireless efforts in bringing the history of Bletchley Park to a wider audience, through sharing the stories of those who worked here, helped ensure that the vital role of Bletchley Park during World War II, and its impact on the conflict, was recognized.”
Hailing from the village of Wythall, just south of Birmingham in the , Webb initially worked at Bletchley Park as a secretary, which she said was “pretty boring but had to be done.”
But when it emerged that she was skilled at registering messages immediately without any training, she said she was instructed to commit to the Official Secrets Act by a “rather severe” army captain before being told to “get on with it” and start indexing some of the 10,000 messages with arrived each day.
In 2023, Webb was invited to King Charles III’s coronation and was given a front-row seat, which she told the BBC was “magnificent.”
Edited by John Silk
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