Book report by a former member of this parish. (I can't link it to FB so I'm posting the full text.)
https://www.facebook.com/RichardAlexander5215
Geoffrey Pidgeon "Edgar Harrison : Soldier, - Patriot and Ultra Wireless Operator to Winston Churchill".
This is a story that would make a good film, though I doubt anyone would believe it to be true. Born in South Wales in 1915, Edgar was bright enough to pass the exams to go to grammar school but his parents couldn't afford the expenses. His work started helping out at a railway signal box before and after school. At 13 he started working down the mines.
Aged 14 he sat exams to become an apprentice in the Royal Corps of Signals and passed. The next few years saw him learning the trade, as well learning about the army, riding horses and so forth. After a brief spell as a gunner/ / wireless operator in an armoured car unit he was posted to China at the of 1933 where served until 1938 working the comms at Peking in the British Legation there, communicating with places such as Hong Kong, Singapore, several Chinese cities where the British had an outpost of some sort as well as the Royal Navy commanders and stations in East Asia. And of course with London.
With the renewal of Sino-Japanese war in 1937 things got a little heated and by the end of the year he was homeward bound. More training ensued on his arrival and so in 1940 he was ready for the next step up - he was recruited into SIS (MI6) - section VIII - the comms department, where he was involved in fitting Packard cars for use as part of a secure comms unit which could communicate direct with Bletchley park and send / receive ULTRA traffic. They also built wireless sets for use by agents on the ground.
The next few years were busy with Edgar flying or sailing off to various places : Norway, Belgium, Greece, Crete, setting up wireless stations and then having flee in the face of German advances and be evacuated along with everyone else. He was stranded in Greece with the last detachment of British Army which finally surrendered when they were out of ammunition and had no ships to rescue them. Edgar had other plans - he acquired the use of a rowing boat and set off from mainland Greece for Crete. Fortunately he was picked up by a destroyer and landed in Crete in time to help set up comms there only to be evacuated again after the Germans invaded and overwhelmed the ill-organised defences. (Ironically General Freyberg (O/C Crete) was given the full details of where the Germans were going to attack as the Allies had cracked the German codes and knew their battle plans. For some reason though he wasn't allowed to know the source of the information and so disregarded it. ULTRA was extremely need-to-know, and showing too much advance knowledge of German plans might have alerted them the fact that the Allies could read their ENIGMA traffic.
This time he was evacuated in an orderly manner and ended up in Egypt where he joined the Inter Services Liaison Department (cover name for SIS) in Cairo. Next stop was Yugoslavia. In 1941 after the AXIS powers had invaded Yugoslavia there was a complicated set of wars going on between German and Italian invaders, Serbian resistance fighters (Chetniks) and the Communists under Tito. There were also Croation fascist Ustase fighters involved and numerous unaligned partisan units scattered around the country. The British initially decided to back Mihailovic's Chetniks and Edgar was dispatched to set up secure comms between them and the British. This involved a lot of close calls, dodgy dealing but luck was on his side and eventually having completed his mission he was evacuated.
No rest for the wicked they say, and with Soviet Russia now involved in the war, the Allies agreed to supply all manner of supplies and some comms gear. So off he set again, this time via Iran, up though the Caucasus into the Ukraine, where he set about installing gear into Soviet tanks. His O/C was also high up in SIS - one wonders such people were sent to install wireless gear in tanks ? Anyways the Russians were driven back, taking Edgar with them and he was eventually recalled back to Cairo.
1942 sees Edgar working with the Long Range Desert Patrol Group in North Africa, working out of Kafra Oasis. Thence to Algiers after Operation Torch landings. 1943 sees the Invasion of Sicily and the war in Italy. Soon after the landings Edgar was in operation in Sicily contacting various agents in there and on the mainland and setting up secure comms. Once that was up and running he was ordered back to Algiers and then finally back to Blighty, where he arrived at the end of 1943.
After so much overseas service Edgar had a break for a while, getting involved in the teaching side of Section VIII, training RAF personnel in morse and wireless telegraphy. 1944 saw the D-Day landings and subsequent battle across France, the Low Countries and into Germany. Edgar was involved in setting up the secure mobile comms units for Allied Commanders.
So where does Winston Churchill fit into the story ? Sadly Edgar wasn't able to tell his full story before he died but it's known he provided the secure ULTRA comms for Winston Churchill when he was abroad at various Conferences. Obviously as PM Churchill needed to be kept up to date with what was happening and to be able to have secure comms with London and his Commanders.
The end of the war in Europe was but a brief respite for Edgar as he was soon on his way east, continuing his work with Allied forces fighting Japan until the conflict ended.
After the war Edgar served in the Diplomatic Wireless Service setting up secure comms around the world, eventually retiring in 1975 as the Principal Signals Officer. Sadly about this part of his life we know nothing apart from lists of places he was stationed.
The big shame is that Edgar didn't live long enough to tell more of his life story. But what we have is the story of an ordinary man living an extra-ordinary life.
The book has several appendices which give more background information on topics encountered in the main story, there's a useful reading list, the book is well-illustrated throughout, has an index, glossary etc and is generally well-produced. Well worth reading if you're interested in one of the sides of the war that is rarely mentioned but was crucial in helping win the war.