Thursday, March 7, 2019

On Being Heroic


RHYS BOWEN: Would I be any good in a war?

My new book, THE VICTORY GARDEN, is all about women being called upon to do tasks that would have been considered beyond their ability during a time of war. They step up, don't complain, and take on the jobs the men are not coming home to do. In each of the World Wars women have shown the world just how amazing and capable they are. 

Having just been on a panel with Kate Quinn and learned about the Night Witches, who flew ten or more bombing raids every night for three years in a row, with ten minutes to reload and off again, and then thinking about her previous book, The Alice Network, about young women spies in France, I found myself wondering what use I would be in a war.


Could I be a spy? A coder? Anything brave?

I speak really good German, even a German dialect. I used to imagine myself working as a British spy, wondering if my German would fail me at the last minute when faced with a Nazi officer. When I was at university in South Germany the people in the house where I roomed called me Das Fraulein von Nordern (the girl from the north) and when I was in North Germany I was known for my southern accent. So I think I would pass in most circumstances. But would I have those veins of ice to sit calmly having a drink with a leading Nazi, while listening to his plans for a bombing raid and then rushing home to get out my radio? I don’t think so, but then I don’t know. 

I do remember once smuggling in a camera I had bought in Germany without paying the duty on it. I gave it to a German friend to carry through customs. At the last minute, in the customs hall, she lost her nerve and handed it back to me in full view of the officers. My heart was pounding as I approached the table.I made it through, my face probably bright red and looking guilty, but they didn't bother to search an eighteen year old student. I didn’t enjoy that experience!

None of us know what we are capable of until we are faced with it. When my kids were involved in competitive swimming I noticed that some swimmers were amazing in practice and everyday competition but folded in big meets. One of my daughters could pull out amazing times when it really mattered. So I guess we are all like that… some of us thrive under pressure, some don’t.

I’ve been trying to think of any times when I had a chance to be heroic. I was certainly cool enough when my kids were injured, including the time when my daughter came to me saying, “I think I’ve hurt myself” and her arm bone was sticking out at the elbow. I covered it quickly, reassured her it could be easily fixed and rushed her to hospital. They strung it up to the ceiling to pull the bone back into place and I…. I went outside to throw up!

The closest I can think of to calm under adversity was when I was fifteen, going to drama school in London and I came to Charring Cross station to find it closed.  The fog was awful that evening—a real pea souper. There had been a massive train crash somewhere down the line but nobody knew anything. I managed to telephone my parents but there was nothing they could do. My father certainly couldn’t come out in the car in such conditions. I tried to take a bus. There were none. I talked with other people at the bus stop and we decided to walk south as a group. The fog was so thick that we had to peer at street signs from a foot away to try to read them. We passed quite close to the train crash and heard the sound of ambulances through the fog. It was eerie and scary.  One by one people dropped off as they came to their part of town. I lived outside London. Fourteen miles to be exact. And the last five miles I walked on my own, getting home at 2 in the morning. My parents were frantic-no cell phones and the lines were jammed because of the train crash.  Of course now I would have found a hotel room in London and told them that my parents would pay in the morning, or even slept the night at the station, but fifteen year olds just want to get home.


So I don’t think I could be a spy. I certainly couldn’t fly fighter planes. I don’t relish thrills or danger. I am a wimp when it comes to roller coasters. I hate scary movies. But I might have enjoyed working at Bletchley Park in the war. I like puzzles and challenges. I’m not madly good at crosswords, certainly not a brilliant mathematical brain, but I could have translated from German and tried to decipher what the German words meant. The only thing I would have found really hard was that they had to sign the official secrets act. They could tell nobody what they were doing. Nobody. Could have kept this from my parents, from my spouse, for fifty years? Frankly I don’t think so!

So dear Reds and readers… have you ever had to be heroic? Do you think you could be if the time came?

66 comments:

  1. This is so interesting, Rhys . . . I never thought about what useful role I might fill in wartime. My vision’s much too bad to fly a plane; I’m not language-gifted or cool enough to be a spy. I’m horrible at directions, but reasonably decent at puzzles and enjoy challenges, so perhaps the coding thing, but I’m far from certain about it.

    Nor am I certain that I actually have the wherewithal to be heroic, but I sincerely hope I’d rise to that challenge if I found myself in a situation that called for it . . . .

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  2. I have no delusions of grandeur. Or adequacy. I know I would be a mess as a spy. And I'm not sure I would be any good in battle, either.

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  3. I find it impressive that all of these wonderful people kept their secrets for so long that we are only just learning about them. Could I have done even that part? Doubtful.

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  4. It's so hard to know, isn't it? I certainly did risky/brave/foolhardy things in my youth, like hitch-hiking from Michigan to California. And, yes, sat with a kid while his broken arm was set. But I've never had my life threatened by menace or disease, never truly been called on to be heroic. As an adult, I am opposed to war (although against someone like Hitler, my belief would have a serious challenge).

    The Wicked Authors shared our favorite historical women yesterday, and there are some heroic ladies mentioned, if anyone is interested: https://wickedauthors.com/2019/03/06/wicked-wednesday-favorite-woman-in-history/

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    1. Edith, you were lucky. I think you have a guardian angel.

      Diana

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  5. Not sure I could have been a spy in the field, although I might have been able to handle it. My talents run to logistics and strategy, so I might turn out to be good at planning and coordinating efforts by a network of spies.

    I generally believe we rise to the challenges put in front of us. I have been in a number of situations in my life where the only way out is through, and in those cases I have been able to buckle down and keep slogging, bringing my friends/family/crew along with me until we reach safety on the other side. That is heroic enough for me.

    On the other hand, I'm not particularly good at being quiet and inconspicuous--beyond the fact that I am an older woman and no great beauty, therefore invisible to men who see women as sex objects--so I might serve in the role as the one the enemy shoots in the town square as an example to everyone else.

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    1. Gigi, you would me like Miss Marple! No one would notice you while you gather information.

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    2. We'd all come and rescue you from the enemy, Gigi. What women do well is work together! And care about each other

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    3. Ah, thank you both! I would certainly rather go down myself than stand by and see any other women get it.

      I do have a certain number of practical skills: I don't mind blood or bodies; I can cook, sew, garden, type, and make a few rudimentary things; and I can organize groups of people. I might yet do as that old lady who keeps the invading commander's room tidy and gathers information from his wastebasket.

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    4. Yes, women do work well together.

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  6. I wondered about this while reading The Victory Garden, as do when reading any of Susan Elia MacNeal's Maggie Hope books. I can knit but how boring would that be? I would want to make a real contribution to the war effort but I don't know what that could've been. I'm good at puzzles but not math, so no Bletchley for me. I'm good in a crisis but I don't know if I'd have the nerve to be a spy. As you said, none of us know what we are capable of until we are faced with it. Maybe I would surprise myself.

    Speaking of spies, can you imagine the French Resistance working out of the catacombs of Paris? THAT took courage.

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    1. I love the Maggie Hope mysteries. It would be tough being a spy. It would take great acting skills!

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  7. Golly, Rhys, fourteen MILES!! Five miles by yourself, though, that is the truly amazing part, in that fog. I'd say that's pretty brave.

    I so loved The Victory Garden, by the way, and did not want it to end. Loved those characters to pieces. Since I'm an herb person, that part really appealed to me, too.

    Being a mom can sure test one's ability to stay calm under pressure. One of my daughters fell over the handlebars of her little bike when she was five, and split her lip vertically. My husband nearly passed out, and was frozen in shock. I grabbed a (red) dishtowel and told her to hold it while we drove to the ER, then held her still while they stitched her because she was terrified. This was good practice for later, when I fell against the basement stair railing and split my eyebrow wide open. Red dishtowel to the rescue, because Steve had to stay conscious to drive me to the ER.

    I don't think I would have been much good when I was younger, but now that I'm in my dotage I could easily melt into a crowd unnoticed. I've thought a lot about this, ever since I was in Europe on my own. It wouldn't take much to become completely anonymous, and to eavesdrop quite readily.

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    1. I had to do the same thing, Karen. My 2 year old son did a racing dive off the coffee table and split his chin open. We were newly moved to Texas. Knew nobody. Found a really awful ER and had to wait while a snake bite victim was treated. Oh, and I've killed 4 Copperheads. I can be brave when needed!

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    2. Omigosh! I can't even take a mouse out of the house. You really are brave.

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  8. Oh, gosh. Such a good question, and such an intriguing one. Who knows. I have wired myself with hidden cameras, and gone in disguise, pretending to be someone I’m not. And I can do that. But the future of democracy was not at stake, and no one would kill me if I was discovered. I hope none of us ever has to find out. I would happily ( no one was happy, but you know what I mean ) have been at Bletchley, but who knows if I would’ve been any good at it.

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    1. Hank, you are the one of us who has actually practiced being a spy! I don't think I could go undercover the way you do. Don't people recognize you?

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    2. Oh, honey, take off the makeup and you'd never know me. Okay, well ,you might. But no, they never have. There are several keys to doing it successfully, in my experience. You have to BE the person. You have to change your voice a bit--I make mine girlish and timid. I change my posture. And dress like--well, it depends. It's so interesting what people assume from clothing and demeanor.

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    3. Being a spy would be tough! I think it takes great acting skills! I can only imagine what it is like being undercover.

      Diana

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  9. What an interesting topic! It's hard to say...My father died when I was 13 and my mother was very dependent on him, so I had to take on a lot of adult responsibility at that age. Because of that, I have always been pretty calm in emergencies. And when I was a young woman I'd say I was very brave, so I probably would have been willing to risk everything for a war effort. But the official secrets act would have intimidated me, too. And as someone has already said, we never really know how we will behave in any situation until we are faced with it.

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  10. Great Question Rhys! I think my wartime heroics would be working in the factories, being a Rosie the Riveter. I'm not very adept at daylight stealth but the imaginary me loves the idea of creeping out under cover of darkness and sabotaging a roadway or munitions depot.

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    1. And Gigi- don't worry! Imaginary me and my resistance group would spring you from the enemy's clutches the night before your scheduled execution in the village square.

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    2. Thank you, Lyda! Real me appreciates the vote of confidence.

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    3. I see myself flying planes during the war and delivering planes to different air bases in the UK during the war.

      Diana

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  11. Love this discussion Rhys and friends! I'm like Mark--I'd be a mess as a spy. Can you imagine keeping secrets while being tortured and kept in a cage? I don't think so! I can organize and boss people around, but I hate being physically afraid, so maybe I'd better stay in the command center....

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  12. The only "heroism" I've ever had to show is driving my kids to the ER, twice for The Girl, once for The Boy.

    I think I could fly a plane with enough training. I could work in an office, I'm okay with puzzles. Could I keep my mouth shut? Probably? The temptation to blurt everything out and make myself sound cool would be pretty high.

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  13. I love this discussion! And thinking about what one might do or contribute. Honestly, I bet we would all be surprised at what we might be able to manage. Needs must and I think that's the wonderful thing about reading stories set in those dire times - the amazing things that people find they are capable of. Like those women who flew so many night missions and like the people at Bletchley Park and on and on. It's great that some of these stories can now be told.

    My talents are kind of odd or so they seem to me. I think I would have made an excellent numbers person, like a forensic accountant. So, maybe that would be a skill. I was a tax accountant in my early days and my mind is good at puzzling out the bits and pieces. Part of why I love mysteries. Could I have kept that work from my husband? Not a chance. Everyone else. Yes. And I'm eager to read THE VICTORY GARDEN soon.

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    1. Oooo, Kay! You could get a job in the invading army's HQ and siphon off funds to support the resistance! Very useful. You could also keep meticulous lists of where they stash all the stolen art and treasure. Just . . . y'know, in case anyone is interested after the war is over.

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  14. I wrote a script about female radio signalers in Australia during WWII (sometimes living alone in a hut in the jungle) and I was amazed by their bravery. I've had a couple of crises where my adrenaline rose to the occasion, but I'm not sure it has staying power. I think I could pretend to be non-threatening, that might be of use?

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    1. Women radio signalers? That sounds so interesting. Are you going to put it into a book?

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    2. Hi Rhys. LOVED The Victory Garden! The script is optioned, so that ship has sailed...but it's a fascinating world and was a great chance to sharpen my action adventure/banter skills for the novels.

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  15. Oddly enough, Julie and I were talking about this the other evening. She is fascinated with spies, but I'm not so much so. My thrills in life came from medical emergencies, and while I may have been terrified, I always felt so clever once it was over and the patient was alive. I remember receiving a pregnant and seizing patient from the ER. They brought her in a wheelchair and rolled it up to the bed. I reached over, picked her up, wheelchair being between me and the bed, and put her on it. And nurses wonder why they have bad backs.

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  16. Has anyone been to the Spy Museum in Washington, DC? The last time we were in the area we wanted to go, but it was closed. It's since been reopened, and it's supposed to be pretty awesome.

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  17. And by the way, happy birthday to DebRo! I saw it on Facebook.

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  18. My childhood had times of genuine trauma and terror, forcing me to be heroic far too young. I know without question that I can face down any monster, because I’ve done it before. No doubt it’s why I write comedy. I lived noir. I’m good, thanks.

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    1. You did not give up (I cannot spell perserved ) and triumphed over adversity! I love your Hat Shop mysteries.

      Diana

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  19. Whenever I watch a movie about the Resistance, I wonder about this, particularly as a mother. Would refuse to do something to protect my children? What about someone else's children? If my husband was a collaborator, would I inform on him?

    During WW2, my grandfather patrolled the Cape Cod beaches for German submarines. I would do a good job managing the home front.

    Enjoyed the Victory Garden, particularly learning about medicinal herbs.

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  20. A spy? Oh totally absolutely not. Whenever I watch intrepid women on TV risking their lives doing brave and dangerous things behind enemy lines, I am so thankful I am not likely to be called upon to do likewise.

    So, what could I do in wartime? Well, as others have mentioned, I'm very good at cryptic crosswords, so I could do crosswords for victory. Oh wait, that's just the test, isn't it. If it got me a job in the coding room or at Bletchley Park, then I'd be worried that a single miscue might sink all sorts of ships.

    Host refugee children from London? Not Pygmalion likely.

    Air Raid warden? Oh dear. No.

    Knitting? Well, if they don't mind waiting two years for each pair of socks.

    I'll have to give this more thought. Thanks for asking, Rhys.

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  21. Susan Isaac's wonderful book, SHINING THROUGH, has one of the best fictional accounts of what it might feel like for an ordinary woman to become a spy. Her heroine, working undercover in a Nazi official's home, lives in an amazing state of excitement, confidence, and constant fear. It's a great read.

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  22. So interesting...You give a lot to think about with this post!

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  23. Rhys, you had lots of adventures, especially walking home through the pea soup fog! I saw a story about that in The Crown. What was Drama school like? I do not know what I would do under these circumstances.

    Diana

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    1. I went to classes in London at.a drama school that specialized in young actors for movies and TV. Went up by train twice a week. Jane And Peter Asher were in my class!

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    2. Rhys, that is so cool! I remember Jane Asher from several BBC movies and tv series.

      Diana

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  24. Happy birthday to DebRo!!!

    Rhys, I think about this when I read your books and others set during the wars. I certainly don't see myself as a particularly brave person, but when I've had to handle emergencies I've done pretty well (the time my husband cut the tip of his finger off in the front door, for one!!!!) I'm not sure I could ever have managed the backbreaking farm work that Emily does in The Victory Garden, but the garden and herbal medicine, definitely. So many spies in the wars started out just as people living their ordinary lives--I think we might surprise ourselves.

    Oh, and I have The Alice Network on my Kindle, really looking forward to reading it.

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    1. Happy birthday to DebRo!

      Do you remember the pea soup fog in England when you lived in England? I loved the Alice Network. You are in for a treat!

      Diana

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  25. My husband was a "radio operator" during the Vietnam War. Radio operator is code for military intelligence. He was a war hero, flew over 230 missions. In short, a spy of sorts. I lived with him overseas during the last year of his tour. We could no discus the job. We could not travel to any country bordering a communist nation. We had to avoid having our picture taken.
    There were places in Okinawa where we did not travel too. His security clearance could have been pulled at any time. While he was adamantly opposed to the war (we both were), he did hes duty. In fact most of the men in his squadron privately were opposed but they did their duty. He helped save some American lives, and heard the death screams of some Vietnamese as the rockets landed. This is what the spy business was like during those times.

    The closest I have come to doing something perilous was when I was an inner city librarian.
    The branch was located in the heart of the crack epidemic. I would go on outreach to the daycare centers in the projects and in other depressed areas. I would occasionally be challenged by dealers. However, my book bag and non threatening manner worked.

    While counseling, I would often be alone in the building. the only time I was scared was when I was seeing a phone sex operator. Her pimp was waiting in the lobby.

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    1. Was the radio operator similiar to the Robin Williams character in Good Morning Vietnam movie?

      Diana

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    2. Hi Diana, no he flew over Vietnam tracking radio signals from the ground while translating them into English. Robin Williams portrayed a DJ on Armed Forces Radio.

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  26. FROM LISA UNGER! AND THE WINNER IS! She had so many technical difficulties posting to the blog on her day last week! She's eager to thank you all, though, and has enlisted me as messenger ! She says:
    Thanks so much everyone for the kind words and for sharing your fascinating dreams! I love hearing how people experience this other world we all visit but rarely understand. And congratulations, Susan, who won a copy of UNDER MY SKIN. Hope you love it!

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  27. Fascinating reading everyone's responses to this topic! I am hoping to get to The Victory Garden very soon. I think I could be a spy--but not the kind who seeks out danger and errands of grave derring-do. I hope I would be the person willing to be present against the daily evil that war constitutes--willing to risk sheltering or feeding or passing information. Those countless little acts of rebellion and attrition that feed into the cause of good.

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    1. Loved the Victory Garden. I reserved a copy at my library.

      Diana

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  29. I am "NOT" generally a hero by nature. Sorry.

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  30. Shalom Reds and fans. I am not generally a hero by nature. I am pretty calm and level-headed in stressful in crisis situations but not inclined to walk into danger. Only a very few times, have I “saved the day.” One time, I was riding a bus home from Bucks County, PA (then my mother’s home) to New York City (where I lived and worked). I was seated in the front right seat (not my usual seat) opposite the driver. At about the halfway mark, the driver seemed to be driving a little erratically. I got up and asked him if he was all right. He said that he was but had sort of a vacant look in his eyes. A few moments later, he passed an 18-wheeler on the right and he was so close that he sheered off his left rear-view mirror. I got up again. This time I placed both of my hands over his and quietly said we had to pull over. I put my foot on the brake and slowly pumped us to a stop on the shoulder of the road. It turned out we were lucky; another driver of the company had been sleeping in the back of the bus and he was able to get us home. It turned out that the driver had had a fasting blood sugar test and had not eaten after the test. He was extremely hypoglycemic. I know it was not me. God must have sent his angels to guide my actions. I just acted without thinking. It was just so out of character for me.

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    1. Wow, David. A cool head indeed, and utterly heroic! You saved a bus full of people

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    2. David, you did a wonderful thing!

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    3. David, you saved a lot of people! I remember when I was being picked up by a shuttle van to go to the airport and the driver forgot to set the parking brake. I yelled at him while it was slowly rolling backward and I was waiting on the sidewalk. The driver ran back to the van and set the parking brake!

      Diana

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    4. Wow, David! You are indeed a hero!

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  31. Thanks, Karen and Debs:
    I haven’t logged on to Facebook in about two years, and I completely forgot that they post birthdays! (And it’s a big one:-)

    DebRo

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  32. I don’t think I could be heroic “on the spot” but maybe I would surprise myself in the moment. Perhaps I could work behind the scenes. I’d like to think I could learn to break codes! (As a quiet person that nobody ever noticed, I briefly wrote a gossip column for a dormitory newsletter in college. I like to think of myself as a good listener! When people realized where the information came from, they didn’t talk so freely around me!)

    David, what you did was so brave!

    DebRo

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  33. I think there was a lot of every day heroism, in addition to the front lines. I"m not even so sure most of the workers at Bletchley knew how big the job was, at least when they started. They were doing their part as it presented itself. As we all would, right? Ex: my mom was on medical leave from first year at college at as a lit. major when the war started. She never went back. Took a govt course that prepared her to do special war work at a company that made communication devices for the Army. Spent hours every day on a bus to get there. Came home and wrote every day to fiance who was stationed at a big Air Corps base in FL.I didn't know until I was grown and ran across some records, that the "course" was the accelerated equivalent of a semester or two of engineering school! Advanced math! Physics! Or ( ahem, since I wrote about it in Brooklyn Wars) women who put on overalls,ignored harassment and went to work in "mens" jobs at places like the Navy Yard?

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