It heralded the end of the Second World War but Dundee woman Christina Rae was “just doing her job”.
Working as a telephone operator in Brussels, Mrs Rae, now 93, had the honour of declaring Victory in Europe on May 7 1945 a day before the recognised date, May 8.
Menzieshill woman Mrs Rae has told how a report in The Courier’s Craigie column marking the 70th anniversary of VE Day inspired her to tell the story of her amazing role in history for the very first time.
She said: “I was called up when I was 21 to go to the army. I didn’t want to go.”
Trained in Edinburgh before being transferred to Salisbury, Christina was later chosen as one of a handful of women and men to be sent to Brussels.
She said: “We were always in private billets.They always kept us separate because they didn’t want anyone to know what we were doing, sendingmessages and getting messages from the men on duty.
“I was working under GeneralMontgomery. He was in charge of it.
“When I sent that message thatended the war, we were in a school we had taken over from the Germans.That’s where we sent the messages to London from.
“It was on May 7 actually, but as it turned out I think the Russians hadn’t formally put their name to it and that’s why the next day was actually the day it was finalised. We knew the war was coming to an end.
“I didn’t think about sending themessage being so important at thetime. I was just doing my job.”
After the war in Europe was over Christina transferred to Germany, where she spent more than a year before returning to the UK.
Her efforts were recognisedand Christina still keeps the treasured card sent to her from Field MarshalMontgomery, which she keeps safe together with some pictures of herself and the others who worked with her at that time.
She said: “I never actually metMontgomery but after that I got a card sent to me from Montgomery thanking me for the work I’d done.
“It was a message of thanks andfarewell.Of course I kept it. It still means a lot to me.”
Christina said she had been thinking about her experiences and was inspired to tell her story after reading about a wartime wireless girl in London in the Craigie Column of The Courier on May 11.
Originally from Aberdeen, Christina and her husband James would later move to Dundee from Kirriemuir.
He worked as a teacher at Harris Academy and in later life Christina used her typing skills as one of DC Thomson’s Bank Street keyboardists, retiring in 1981.
She now has two sons and four grandchildren.