Torquay veteran is a D-Day icon in major London campaign

A 102-year-old D-Day veteran from Torquay has appeared on large digital screens in central London and Portsmouth to commemorate the 80th anniversary of Operation Overlord.  She joins Aldred, 99, from Callington in Cornwall, as part of a portrait campaign by Blind Veterans UK and award-winning photographer Richard Cannon. 

Peggy, who was 22 at the time of D-Day, worked as a linguist for the Women’s Royal Naval Service, intercepting German radio traffic.  

Stationed in a solitary direction-finding tower, Peggy spent nights transcribing codes without understanding their significance.  

“You went across during the afternoon with coats and blankets, books and enough food and drink to last you through until breakfast the next morning, because you had to be in there all night. Just you.

"It was like an old windmill without sails, about the size of a normal lavatory. I took down pages of four-figure code. And I didn’t have a clue what it was about.” 

On June 5, it was clear that a major operation was imminent, though Peggy and her peers were kept in the dark. 

Peggy continued: “It was very obvious that something was going to happen. You could tell, which peeved me considerably – we were not being told what was going on. 

“Like hundreds of thousands of others, I played a minor part. At the time we thought we were doing something important, but of course nobody knew about this until the mid to late 70s. My parents died before knowing what I’d been doing.” 

Peggy lost her sight due to macular degeneration, but that hasnt stopped her enjoying her life, thanks to support from Blind Veterans UK.

She said: “Blind Veterans UK give you so many gadgets to help. I have a talking watch and a talking bedside clock as well as a machine that reads my letters. 

“I do a regular telephone quiz and I go to coffee mornings. They really do everything.”