A LEIGHTON man who served with the Radio Security Service during World War Two is one of a handful of surviving veterans set to receive a medal commemorating the work of the code breakers at Bletchley Park and affiliated services.
Tom Howie, of Digby Road, was living in his home town of Laurencekirk, Kincardineshire, Scotland, when he joined the Air Training Corps in 1941.
Tom had a burning ambition to be a pilot and on his 17th birthday in 1943 applied to join the Royal Air
Force.
His dream of fighting the enemy from the cockpit of a Spitfire or Lancaster bomber were shattered when he failed the medical.
"The doctor put some long needles up my nose and found a blockage," said Tom.
"I was advised to have an operation which I did, but instead of improving it deteriorated."
The condition meant that Tom could not wear the breathing equipment necessary at high altitude.
"I continued going to the ATC regardless of the fact that I would not fly and one day a man from Montrose came to our flight and asked for volunteers for work of a highly secret nature," he said.
Tom volunteered and was sent to the RSS training centre at Arkley in Hertfordshire, where a number of houses had been taken over by M15.
It was a tough course, but Tom persevered and after reaching the required standard was posted to Forfar near his home town.
"My task was to intercept German Army communications and with Forfar being near the coast the signals were normally good, but when atmospherics or static caused a weakening of the signals they were more difficult to intercept," said Tom.
"I have permanent tinnitus as a result of wearing earphones for a long period.
"We were told that it was important to obtain the start of each message as this was the main part for the decoders and the continued from page 1
messages were marked secret ultra.
"Although we were security cleared, there was only one occasion that I can remember when we were told that our efforts had saved many lives.
"The RSS intercepts went to Bletchley Park and there is no question that the decoders there did a marvellous job, but perhaps it should be remembered that there would not be any logs to work on without the dedication of the intercept operators at the many stations at home and abroad."
Forfar Radio Station closed in 1946 and Tom volunteered for extended duties in Egypt, monitoring radio communications from Jewish refugees trying to enter Cyprus.
Tom was "demobbed" in February 1947 and went to work at the Government Communications Headquarters until he retired 17 years ago.
GCHQ is a civil service department which reports to the foreign secretary and works closely with the UK's other intelligence agencies, M15 and M16.
by MICK KING
