Tributes paid to Second World War codebreaker
Ruth Bourne has died aged 98
A veterans charity has announced that Ruth Bourne, a Second World War codebreaker has died at the age of 98.
Ms Bourne, who is from High Barnet in north London was chosen to work at Bletchley Park to decode intercepted Nazi messages after joining the Wrens (Women's Royal Naval Service), as a Bombe machine operator and checker.
In 2018 she was awarded the Legion d'honneur - France's highest military honour - in recognition of her service.
The Taxi Charity for Military Veterans wrote on Facebook:
"Ruth's contribution to the monumental task of breaking the Enigma cypher was truly historic.
"A remarkable woman"
"Ruth was a remarkable woman with immense charm and charisma, and she will be dearly missed by all who had the privilege of knowing her."
Wartime codebreakers used the Bombe machine to break the Enigma code used by the Nazis to encrypt messages, changing the course of the war and saving millions of lives.
Their work enabled British intelligence to move more quickly and act upon the information the Bletchley team gave them, contributing to a number of key military victories during the war.
It also sparked the industrialisation of codebreaking and helped pave the way for the first forms of the computers used today.
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