SARUM U3A

Members enjoyed a hugely entertaining and informative June coffee morning. From the moment  Pat Read introduced our speaker, Mr John Palmer MBE, his humour and knowledge, permeated his revelations of military intelligence. He gave glimpses of life as an intelligence officer prior to D Day. He made numerous flights along the French and Belgian coasts to spot suitable sites for naval bombardment and safe Invasion landing sites. He was a “bigot”, ie one of those who knew the exact dates and location of the Invasion. We were delighted to see an original map prepared for Field Marshal Montgomery. He told us about the use of deception in warfare in Operation Fortitude South. Here, inflatable tanks, lorries, and landing craft were assembled in Kent and Sussex to successfully deceive the Germans about our Invasion plans.

At the end of the war he was based in Celle, Germany, where he was involved in interrogating “The Beast of Belsen”, Joseph Kramer, and his wife. He talked of the importance of signals and intelligence gathering to the security of this country.

By intercepting and breaking Argentine ciphers, the British were forwarned of enemy plans during the Falklands Campaign. He also raised the debate between the public “right to know”, what needs to be secret for national security, and the bending of information for political purposes.
Alan Wood gave the vote of thanks.
Our Chairman reminded us that tickets are on sale at the July coffee morning for the September 16th joint U3A’s “Crafty Lunch”.