valerie and John

I took this photo of Valerie and John just outside Charing Cross Station in Central London. They are both military veterans - Valerie was a Data Telegraphist for the Royal Army Corps, and John was in the Royal Navy.
Valerie joined up at 15-years old instead of the required 17. She told me that they didn’t have computers back then, so nobody ever checked that she had lied about her age. Eventually, she specialised in cipher, and that her work, especially during The Cold War, was very secretive. Even now, she is bound by the official secrets act not to discuss its precise nature.

She travelled a lot; she was stationed in the Middle East and in Northern Ireland during the troubles. She said it was wonderful seeing different places. Once though, when she was in The Middle East, she was held at gunpoint and taken to an empty room that just had a single chair and was interrogated for 24 hours. When her captors realised that she wouldn’t tell them anything, they made a phone call, and her commanding officer came and collected her. She wasn’t harmed and thinks that she was swapped for another prisoner who was working for the other side.

John was a sub-mariner. He started out as an apprentice and worked his way to becoming a chief engineer on a nuclear submarine. He told me that he has circumnavigated the world in submarines but added that he cannot discuss much about his time in the service.
The couple were married 12 years ago. They met at The Royal British Legion. Valerie, who was a widow at the time, was persuaded to go by a friend. As soon as John saw her at the entrance, he said, “This is the woman that I am going to marry.” They got married in the local church in Walmer, where Valerie was a bellringer.

I offered to send the couple a copy of the shot, but they told me they don’t have a computer, a mobile phone, or even a landline. They said that I should write to them instead. Perhaps when you’ve spent a lifetime dealing with military communications, you want to keep things simple.