The Code breakers from Bletchley Park that did so much to help the Allies win WW2 are going to awarded a their own Medal. There are about half of the 10.000 people that worked there still living. It got to a stage where they could read the German codes quicker than the Germans could with the help of the worlds first analytic computer called Hercules. The whole thing was so secret that Churchill had every thing destroyed at the end of war including the worlds first computers

I have a bit of a question about this, do they really need a medal?

I am not saying that their work was not important as what they achieved was outstanding, it saved countless allied lives and was probably the difference between winning and losing the war from the allied point of view.

But I have a feeling that handing out medals 70 years after the event is more a sort of nostalgic politically correct action than a "heart felt" one.

These guys certainly deserve recognition but I feel it should have been at the time.

PS. Did the Bomber Command ever get a medal?

I am with you on the first part.

Originally Posted by MontyB

-snip- Did the Bomber Command ever get a medal?

AFAIK: No. Probably didnt kill enough civilians?

But then, they didn´t get tried for war crimes either (sorry, as a German could not resist)

Rattler

P.S.: And before anyone reads something not intended into that, I for one am happy not to live unter a Hitler&Co reign and grateful to the aliies to have us liberted from this nightmare. R.

Originally Posted by rattler

I am with you on the first part.



AFAIK: No. Probably didnt kill enough civilians?

But then, they didn´t get tried for war crimes either (sorry, as a German could not resist)

Rattler

Oh you mean like the air raids carried out on London, Coventry, Bristol and Liverpool (to name a few). Then there were the incidents of Bf109's machine gunning schools across the South of England killing dozens of school children. Then there were the raids carried out of Rotterdam and other cities that wasnt at war. Then of course I almost forgot the Spanish civil war.

Do you mean those sorts of war crimes?

Sorry, as an Englishman I couldnt resist.

Calm down it was an innocent question not a prelude to hijacking the thread however for the record the allied campaign over Germany was not all that dissimilar to the Luftwaffe over Britain so pointing fingers at mirrors isnt that smart.

The code breakers did an amazing job and made a huge contribution to the eventual allied victory I am just saying this should have been recognised at the time this also applies to Bomber Command, they made huge sacrifices in carrying out their missions and I think I recall that they were one of the few groups that did not receive their own campaign medal.

I think at this stage in history the best way to honour these groups is to keep their actions alive through educating future generations of their service rather than handing out medals.

But then, they didn´t get tried for war crimes either (sorry, as a German could not resist)

I'm pretty sure no German was tried for war crimes for killing civilians in air raids. Germany declared Total War by targeting allied and neutral civilians and then you whinge when it comes to your door step.

I don't think they should get a medal. Sure they were very important, but they still had hot meals, beds and showers and probably only worked in 6-8 hour shifts.

I dunno, some people just seem to live for medals.

I've never really been able to see the value personally, I've never even bothered to apply for mine and don't even know what I'm entitled to. I don't need to show others that I served, and I already know, so what is the benefit.

I smile to myself at gatherings like ANZAC day when you see people going around "Counting medals" as if it is some indication of "heroism", when many of them never saw a shot fired in anger.

There has been a fad here over the last few years where particularly ex Vietnam era blokes have been sticking medal ribbon bumper stickers on their vehicles, I feel like saying to them, "Why don't you get the f*ckin' things tattooed across your damned forehead'.

In case you haven't realised, all this "puffery" about having served annoys me immensely.

I am not so sure about that, I know that in the case of my father and his brothers the medals meant very little in fact a couple of them only applied for theirs very late in life and they never even took them out of the box they arrived in.

However when I inherited them they were invaluable for gathering information about them and passing on information to others, so from a genealogical point of view they actually mean a lot.

Originally Posted by Wallabies

I'm pretty sure no German was tried for war crimes for killing civilians in air raids. Germany declared Total War by targeting allied and neutral civilians and then you whinge when it comes to your door step.

As a deliberate military policy. I always feel that people have no idea of what London, for example, went through for a long period. Not only -'London can take it' , but also 'London won't moan about it'. The only subsequent re-actiion was the stiff 2 -fingered salute.

The code breakers did a very important job. It has been said that, had we not had the advance knowledge that we did, the war would have been a much longer and more expensive thing.

The question is I suppose, "Where does one stop", there are virtually no non combatants who did not play some quite important part in the eventual victory. My own Father was in a reserved occupation, he worked nights at the Salisbury ammunition works making explosives and suffered skin and bronchial problems throughout the rest of his life as a result of it. I never found out about it until long after he eventually died of cancer, and we were contacted by an organisation asking if we wished to submit a claim that his cancer was somehow linked to his wartime work. We declined the offer.

I feel that this is more a "feel good" offer by the Government.