The petite veteran who lied about her height so she could join up and support D-Day
A Second World War veteran who was so determined to serve that she faked her height so she was tall enough to join the Wrens, has said she is proud of the work she did to support the troops in the run-up to D-Day.
Ninety-nine-year-old former signaller Dorothea Barron, whose role was vital in helping troops train ahead of the Normandy Landings, recalls joining the Women's Royal Naval Service in 1943 at the age of 18.
She said: "I put things under my heels and cut cardboard shapes and wore them inside my shoes and I put my hair up and stood up very tall, as tall as I could.
"I really shouldn't have been in the services. I was supposed to be 5ft 3in and there is no way I was ever 5ft 3in.
"I think they took pity on me and thought 'poor thing she's so keen to come we will let her in even if she isn't 5ft 3in'."
Despite her petite frame, Dorothea commands attention with her strong presence.
Dressed in her grandson's old white cricket trousers, the 99-year-old teaches yoga to people 20 years her junior in her local village hall.
Dorothea, who thanks to yoga can still touch her toes with ease, trained to become a visual signaller, learning semaphore and morse code so she could send and receive messages from ship to shore and vice versa.
She was based in Campbeltown in Argyll and Bute ahead of D-Day, where the troops stationed there were practising being transferred from large ships to smaller landing craft.
This was to prepare them for Operation Neptune, the beach landing phase of Operation Overlord, the battle of Normandy that would pave the way for the Allies to free northwest Europe from Nazi occupation.
She said: "We were keeping an eye on them and looking after them so if the boat suddenly developed a leak and they were sinking we could then communicate it and they could get help."
When asked if she knew what the troops were preparing for, she said: "We didn't know what we were doing because you didn't ask a question and you weren't expected to divulge any information because you never knew who was listening."
While Dorothea might not make a fuss about her vital contribution to the war effort, senior members of the Royal Navy think otherwise.
Among Dorothea's old photos and military memorabilia is a letter from Admiral Sir Ben Key, the First Sea Lord.
He said: "In hugely difficult circumstances, the work you and your fellow Wrens did was fundamental to the outcome of the war. You should be hugely proud of your contribution.
"You were extraordinary trail blazers for all the women that now serve on the frontline in today's Navy – without your example and your courage we would not be where we are today."
Rather modestly, Dorothea said in response: "That was very sweet of him to say that.
"Everybody's contribution was fundamental to the winning of the war – it really was everybody's."
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