IN recognition of her wartime service as a code breaker during World War II, local woman, Jocelyn Kelso was presented by the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS) with a Bletchley Park Commemorative Badge on Wednesday afternoon.

The medal was commissioned by David Cameron in 2010 and is given by the United Kingdom (UK) government to those who worked at Bletchley Park and its outstations during WWII.

Ms Kelso signed up to the Navy in 1944 and was sent to begin service on the HMAS Londsdale.

Her aptitude in office skills and writing made her one of 80 young women chosen to work at the top-secret Monterey base in Albert Park, Australia’s version of the UK Bletchly Park, operated by American, British, and Australian Naval Forces from 1942-44 that saw Women’s Royal Australian Naval Services (WRANS) intercept and decode messages between Japanese command.

As a writer and then leading writer, Ms Kelso would read the information coming out of the teleprinters sent by communications in the field that were intercepted from the Japanese Imperial Command, and decide if there were any hidden words in the transcripts that indicated relevant action was taking place by the Japanese.

During her first days at Monterey, Ms Kelso was shown a secret cabinet where her American superiors kept a pistol, with all girls given strict instructions on how to use the weapon if the Japanese ever invaded Melbourne.

While she didn’t know any languages when she first started her work as a writer, Ms Kelso said she soon learnt to recognise many Japanese words, as she needed to be able to identify critical words in the messages to find out what was going on.

Ms Kelso said certain Japanese words such as “to”, “from”, “boat”, and “submarine” made her hurry to the American interpreter as soon as she saw them so action could be taken.

All WRANS were sworn to secrecy and threatened with prison time if they told a single soul about their highly classified work, with all girls including Ms Kelso keeping that promise for decades, despite the leading writer being discharged from official duty in July 1946.

Now aged 96, Ms Kelso shared her story with Hamilton and District Legacy legatee, John Graham, who completed the application process for the Bletchly Park Commemorative Badge and presented her with the badge and certificate at a small gathering held at Wannon MP, Dan Tehan’s office.

Mr Graham said he was disappointed the Australian Government did not have a similar medallion or form of recognition for the ladies chosen to work at Monterey as they “did so much” and deserved to have their hard work acknowledged. 

Mr Graham said the Monterey codebreakers were credited for playing a significant role in the allied victories in the Pacific, including the destruction of a Japanese convoy of more than 5000 army reinforcements and the death of Japanese Admiral Yamamoto, which proved a devastating blow to Japanese morale.

Ms Kelso moved to Hamilton after she got married and never really told her family what she did during the war, with her grandson being the first to find out about her time at Monterey due to his interest in history.

After hearing her story, Ms Kelso’s grandson said, “Nan you were a spy”, however she did not think she did anything special and was just happy to help the war effort.