Wartime radio operator recognised

Radio Amateur Albert Garforth G3IGC has received a letter from the Prime Minister expressing the country's 'deepest gratitude' for the vital services he performed at Bletchley Park during WWII.

From BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/8296953.stm

A radio operator from Greater Manchester, who helped unlock German coded messages during World War II, has been recognised for his efforts.

Albert Garforth G3IGC, 83, of Foxdenton Lane, Middleton Junction, spent the last year of the war helping the code-breakers at Bletchley Park unlock the Enigma code. Their work meant the Allies gained vital information about German troop movements, securing victory in 1945.

Mr Garforth has received a Bletchley Park Commemorative Badge. It was accompanied by a letter from Prime Minister Gordon Brown expressing the country's "deepest gratitude" for the vital services he performed.

It adds to an award from the Bletchley Park Trust, which he received three years ago. Both, he said, take pride of place at his home.

Mr Garforth, an amateur radio enthusiast, said: "I was really pleased that my efforts have been recognised by the government, although it took them 65 years. I'm no hero. I just played my part."

He was serving with the Royal Signals when he was posted to Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, most famous for breaking codes from the German Enigma machine and immortalised in the film Enigma.

More than 10,000 people worked there and had to sign the Official Secrets Act, with many having no idea what their work was about. Mr Garforth intercepted radio messages from the German High Command but did not know what they contained.

He said: "It was all in code and we just passed it on to the intelligence corps who passed it on to the code-breakers.
"It was highly secret and we weren't allowed to talk about it until the 40-year secrecy period ended."

After leaving the Army in 1948 he worked on radar sites and guided missile sites installing equipment and worked on the first computers at Ferranti before ending his career as a technician at Manchester University. 

Oldham Evening Chronicle -
Albert, 83, hero of the airwaves 
http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news-headlines/30627/albert-83-hero-of-the-airwaves

• Our thanks to PW Editor Rob Mannion G3XFD for alerting us to this item