World War 2 Wren, 101, shares stories about plotting D-Day and secrets she kept for ’50 years’

“Very, very exciting but very, very secret” is how 101-year-old Christian Lamb describes the work she conducted during her time posted in London as a Wren intelligence officer.

The secret work she is referring to was nothing less than helping plan the 1944 D-Day landings in France.

Christian, for the first time, records her experiences in the bowels of Whitehall detailing the strategy which would lead to allied forces liberating France.

READ MORE: The heart-warming story of what happened to the animals at London Zoo during wartime

Christian in 1942, first row on the far right

Speaking to the BBC, she said she didn’t speak about her role “for about 50 years”, sticking to the silence that pervaded many wartime intelligence operations.

Writing about her working conditions, she said: “My small office below stairs was for me alone; there many of us working on individual pieces of the enormous jigsaw, none of us knew or ever discussed what the others were doing.”

Finally breaking her silence, the memoir offers readers a snapshot of London during the Blitz and delves into her romance and marriage to Naval officer Lieutenant John Lamb as well as her work as a Wren.

Christian and her husband John

Christian and her husband John

For a bit of context, the Wrens were an auxiliary support shoreline service for the Navy formed in 1917.

One of the main purposes of the Wrens was to use women in support roles for the navy on land to free up fighting men to go sea.

As WWII progressed, the Wrens became a vital part of British operations, particularly in plotting and intelligence.

Christian describes herself as being ‘terrified’ during her time in London but that ‘everything went on as normal’.

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Speaking about wartime London Christian recalls the tension in the air, telling the BBC: “If you were in a theatre or something, the whole audience would sort of swerve to one side if they heard bombs approaching, but as the sound moved on or receded they would get back in their seats.”

To try and forget about the constant stress of bombing raids she and a former school friend would hop on a motorbike and “tear around the London parks”.

“I would ride pillion, and it would cheer us up. It did us a great deal of good,” she said.

Christian is an avid gardener and has spent her time since the war writing gardening books, even appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Gardeners’ Question Time.

Her memoir Beyond the Sea: A Wren at War was published in August this year.

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https://www.mylondon.news/news/nostalgia/world-war-2-wren-101-21370605

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