Unlike government
leaders or high-ranking military commanders, Betty was an ordinary young woman
in Great Britain who answered the call when her Country was facing the battle
against the evil forces of Nazi Germany.
Like many other men and women in the allied forces, they stepped up when
their Country and the world needed them most.
I enjoyed learning about
her family life in a small town in England and found it interesting how Betty learned
to speak a foreign language, and went to Germany in 1937, before WWII. That experience proved beneficial for the
work she would one day do at Bletchley Park and later the Pentagon.
Thanks to Betty
Webb writing and sharing about her service in the ATS, we can have an idea
of what their lives were like during those tumultuous years. Betty was 18 years old when she enlisted in
the ATS. While technically, she was
qualified to remain at home and care for her mother, Betty signed up to serve
her Country. Can you imagine what it was
like to go from living with your family at home to sharing living space with
hundreds of other women from all over.
While Betty wanted
to be a driver in the ATS, because of her foreign language skills she was assigned
to serve at Bletchley Park. She would
serve in different roles as part of the process to decode the German messages
that were intercepted. Something as
simple as filing was a very important role and handled circumspectly.
The work done at
Bletchley was very compartmentalized and workers only knew that part of the work
that they did. Each person that served
had taken an oath of secrecy which they took very seriously. It wasn’t until many years later that the work
done in WWII was declassified and could be talked about. In No More Secrets, Betty
shares writings from other authors about their experiences and work.
After the Allied
victory in Europe, Betty was called to serve at the Pentagon in the USA to help
in the work to decode the Japanese war messages. Before long there was victory over
Japan. It was fascinating to see the
differences in how the United States was impacted by the war, verses Great Britain.
I was glad that the
book did not end with the victory in WWII.
Betty went on to write and speak about her life during WWII. Even now, Betty at the age of 100 continues
to share about her experiences serving Great Britain and with their alley the
United States of America.
I found No
More Secrets by Betty Webb an interesting history from the
perspective of an ordinary citizen who was called to serve during an extraordinary
time in history. It was quite a different
pace and more personable than a book written by a government or miliary leader and
was very relatable.
I highly recommend No
More Secrets by Betty Webb!
I would like to
thank Ad Lib Publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a complimentary
copy of No More Secrets by Betty Webb. I was under no obligation to give a favorable review.
