'Incredibly proud' code-breaking veteran turns 100

Pat Shepherd kept her work secret from her family until she was in her 50s

A veteran of Bletchley Park, where German, Italian and Japanese codes were broken during World War Two, is celebrating her 100th birthday.

Pat Shepherd, from Ferndown, Dorset, helped to run the Bombes - code-breaking machines - at the secret Buckinghamshire base.

She said she was "incredibly proud" of her work but did not tell her family about it until later in life.

In August, Bletchley Park said only about 350 veterans remained around the world.

Ms Shepherd was 18 when she joined the Women's Royal Naval Service

The work at Bletchley Park, led by computer pioneer Alan Turing, was vital to the war effort.

Turing's Bombes processed coded enemy messages, including those revealing the position of U-boats that were inflicting heavy losses on Allied convoys in the Atlantic.

Ms Shepherd said she was posted to Bletchley at the age of 18 after joining the Women's Royal Naval Service.

Alan Turing's Bombes helped the work of code breakers at Bletchley Park

She recalled: "Once you'd got it set up on your wheels on these huge machines, push the button, they all started turning.

"[It] would take about an hour, perhaps, per run, to try all the combinations of those letters you've been sent.

"And then if your machine stopped, it was either a fault or it might have been an answer they were looking for."

Ms Shepherd said she was never told whether her machine had made a breakthrough.

Her son Tim Shepherd said he was "absolutely staggered" when she revealed her secret work in her 50s.

He said: "What was especially interesting for me was to actually go to Bletchley with Mum last year as an honoured visit.

"I wasn't aware that Bletchley had been so significant in allowing the British Intelligence to actually redirect false information to actually send the Germans to the wrong area in France, which saved many, many lives in Normandy."

Tim Shepherd said he was "absolutely staggered" when his mother revealed her wartime past

Mr Shepherd continued: "I was fascinated by what we were able to see on... some of the displays there about how these Bombes actually worked.

"They had to clean the brushes on each of the dials with tweezers because the brushes got sort of bent out of shape.

"And it was very, very noisy apparently, when all the machines were running in there."

Family members from as far away as Australia, South Africa and the US have come to Dorset to celebrate Ms Shepherd's special occasion.