This note is in fond remembrance of Margaret Ward who passed away recently, on 18th February. Then Margaret Pratt, she joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, the FANYs, as an 18 year old in 1943 and would travel out to Algeria in the autumn of that year to work as a wireless operator at the SoE station at Massingham. In Algiers, she first met with my father's friend and comrade, Sergeant Charles Ward, who had been medically downgraded from the 2nd Bn London Irish Rifles at the end of the Tunisian campaign and was working in late 1943 at SoE on ciphering duties. The couple kept their burgeoning friendship a close secret while they worked with SoE in Algeria and later in Italy until they both returned to UK at the end of the war. Charles and Margaret got married in March 1946 - and would enjoy 73 years of devoted loving marriage. Charles contacted me about 7/8 years ago on spotting my father's memoirs on line and reading that my Dad remembered joining up together with him at Liverpool Street Station on 18th October 1939 and I had the pleasure of meeting Margaret on numerous occasions over the past few years.... her tea, sandwiches and biscuits/cakes would always hit the spot, then followed by hours of happy banter. I re-attach a photo that I took of Charles and Margaret just before the VE Day commemorations at Westminster in May 2015. Margaret's funeral takes place on Thursday in Wendover, Bucks. Arduis Invicta Semper Occultus ps you can enjoy listening to an extended interview with Charles and Margaret Ward via this link
