Hazel Clements A Watch

HAZEL CLEMENTS - married name Knights

A WATCH BEAUMANOR

Details sent in by her Granddaughter Nathalie:

She was 17 when she joined the army, and had been working as a telephone operator before the war. She had learned German in highschool, which was a big selling point to the recruiter. Hazel joined the service in 1939.

Her work during the war was described by her as Decoding messages from Germans, and recognizing their "hand". Every month the Germans would switch their call sign, and she describes hustling around different stations with the other ladies figuring out who the new call signs belonged to. They all had a personal German who they knew and listened to, even when said German got a new call sign. Sometimes that German would die or be replaced.

She was sworn to secrecy, but mentioned that her work had something to do with Prague.

She watched "The Blitz" as it happened while she worked? I don't know if that was possible at Beaumanor. She described watching "the city burn at night" from a hill.

I just found out that Beaumanor was her place of work from the Bletchley Park website, but everything else my family has known for a long time. She died from breast cancer in the 90s.

I don't know nearly enough about the history, so I offer you what I have from my family in hopes it can be synthesized. I'm sorry that we don't have much. Thank you for this project!