IT has taken nearly 65 years but this week, Ballarat great-grandmother Philippa McCallin-Miller officially became a World War II heroine.
In 1944, the Englishwoman, then 23, was engaged by the British Army as a code breaker at its secret military intelligence decryption hub Bletchley Park, 80km north of London.
She was the only woman in a team of 20 crypto-analysts whose code breaking abilities often uncovered high level German military intelligence that was relayed directly to then Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill.
On Tuesday, Mrs McCallin-Miller was finally recognised by Queen Elizabeth II for her vital contribution.
A golden medal of honour arrived in the mail at her Lake Wendouree home, along with a certificate signed by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
"We were very few, us code-breakers but you really didn't see what you deciphered," Mrs McCallin-Miller, now 87, said.
"It sounds crazy but once you had everything clear, you abandoned it and it went through to the people who were actually deciphering it."
Sought out by British commanders for her fluency in German and advanced crypto-analytical skills acquired while living with her father in India, Mrs McCallin-Miller spent 18 months cracking complex military Morse code messages relayed between Adolf Hitler's commanding
officers.
"The thing was to break the code and you break the code when errors are made, because they are too lazy, too tired or too hurried."
"Once it's been broken, you don't really have anything more to do with it, so you didn't necessarily see anything exciting.
"I didn't really know any more than any one else did, we only knew what we heard in the news."
The majority of historians now agree Bletchley Park code-breakers, almost all civilians such as Mrs McCallin-Miller, shortened World War II by two years.
However, it has not been until this year their efforts have been officially recognised.
An estimated 12,000 people worked at the decryption hub, a privately owned English manor but the majority remain unrecognised due to the destruction of all records and message breaking devices at the conclusion of the war.
The British Army swore all to secrecy about their occupations and it wasn't until 30 years after the war ended that Mrs McCallin-Miller breathed a word to anyone.
"My family and friends all asked what I did, of course but I told them, `I'm sorry, I can't tell you, I've been sworn to secrecy," she said.
"It was incredible really that 12,000 people actually did keep the secret.
"It was an American who eventually broke it 30 years later."
Mrs McCallin-Miller said though the revelation enabled her and many others to finally disclose their role in the war effort, she remained reluctant to do so.
"One realised it was very secret but I didn't realise quite how important it was and I don't think anyone realised until long after the war because it was only really comparatively recently that people started talking about it," she said.
Mrs McCallin-Miller, a widow, retired to Ballarat two years ago to be closer to one of her three daughters.
She applied for the medal recognising her war efforts after receiving word from the Bletchley Park museum in July they were available and was "thrilled when it finally arrived this week."
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter