Every child born into the Morgan family of Cheshire will be able to hold in their hands a very unique piece of World War II memorabilia thanks to the current patriarch, Bernard.
Sergeant Bernard Morgan was working as a Royal Air Force codebreaker in 1945 when he deciphered a secret telex that read: “The German war is now over… The surrender is effective sometime tomorrow”.
Last week Bernard celebrated his 100th birthday, and while he had already offered copies of the communicae to two different museums, he’s vowed that the real one will pass to his family when he dies.
Ahead of his birthday, the great-grandad read out the note to interviewers, dressed in the uniform he wore on D-day to remind others of the liberties they had won in the victory.
Bernard was the youngest RAF sergeant to land in Normandy in June 1944, when he and his team of codebreakers disembarked on Gold Beach, where the British Army defeated the 352nd Infantry Division and suffered 1,100 casualties.
“I am always keen for the younger generation to know exactly what went on during the War and to appreciate the sacrifice that our lads made so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have today,” said Morgan.
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He was stationed in Schneverdingen, Germany, when he got the message on around May 6, 1945, declaring that the war in Europe was ending via his Typex machine.
The note stated:
The German War is now over. At Rheims last night the instrument of surrender was signed which in effect is a surrender of all personnel of the German forces – all equipment and shipping and all machinery in Germany.
Nothing will be destroyed anywhere. The surrender is effective some time tomorrow. This news will not be communicated to anyone outside the service nor to members of the press.
Following the news, and as you might imagine, Bernard had a big party with his close comrades—lighting a huge bonfire and celebrating into the night while being careful not to give the game away. He kept both the note and his role in the war hidden for 50 years due to secrecy documents he had signed, which finally elapsed in 1994.
“The Imperial War Museum in London and in Manchester both wanted the original copy— they weren’t interested in a photocopy—but I’m keeping it for my family,” he said.
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“It was a surprise,” he said of receiving the note, “we couldn’t tell anybody until we got the final message to say the war in Germany was now over.”
“We had to decode it—it was in code. It was great when we got that. I was in a little place called Schneverdingen, Germany, near Hamburg. It was nice to see that no more soldiers, sailors, or airmen were giving their lives… and also to thank the civilians who gave their lives for the same reason,” he added.
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