Memorial Day, Bletchley Park, World War 1 Teacup Trio, WW2 Tea Cozy

Hi and welcome to Time Was Antiques for Memorial Day in the US...I decided to join Tuesday Cuppa Tea because I have a patriotic World War 1 Royal Albert Crown China, England teacup trio...

The teacup trio was made at the end of the European War...what we call World War 1, and was supposed to be the war to end all wars. Downton Abbey did a wonderful job chronicling the patriotism and optimism at the start of the war, and the shock at the real conditions the soldiers found. The motto on the teacup trio is:

"No Price Can Be Too High

When Honour  And Freedom

Are At Stake"

The design has the British shield and the flags of the allies, including Japan who became one of the main adversaries of WWII. The flags of Belgium, France, Russia and Japan are represented. The color accents are hand applied enamel paint.

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 Moving on to World War 2, I was reminded of the incredibly important work done at a seccret location in England, that has recently been totally declassified and is now open for tours...Bletchley Park....

On July 15, 2011, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were at Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire to unveil a memorial to the World War II codebreakers who worked here clandestinely and were credited with ending the war 2 years earlier and with the stopping the loss of many more lives. 

Bletchley Park is now run by the National Trust and is available for tours and visits...their website is: 
https://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/

 photo from BBC.co.uk

The Enigma Machine...

courtesy http://www.bletchleypark.org/

The Bletchley Park secret decoding work resulted in cracking the supposedly unbreakable German codes. The capture of an German Enigma machine resulted in the code being then worked on another Enigma and Colossus system which was the innovative precursor to today's super computer.

Here is a link to information on the various machines at the Bletchley Park website:

The Codebreaking Machines

I grew up with stories about the secret work done during the war as my father was part of the secret OSS or Office Of Strategic Services stationed in England with members of MI5 and MI6.  
My father was the head of a traffic intercept station in the Berkshire village of  Hurley-on-Thames, basically eavesdropping on enemy traffic, transcribing or recording it it, and sending on to Whitehall or Bletchley Park for decoding. He was in charge of the detail and lived at the Manor House in Hurley. 
I have a photo I took of the manor in 1990, but it was not with a digital camera, so can't post it.  I did find a photo of his local while there, The Olde Bell, which is one of the oldest pubs in England. We visited the town and took photos in 1992 for my dad and were able to show them to him just a week before he died unexpectedly.

My father was unable to tell my mother where he was...it was just listed as...a village in England...but managed to let her know by referring conversationally to a book he had just read by Leslie Charteris in The Saint series that was popular in the 1940s. He referred to an incident in a book on a page that was set at The Olde Bell in Hurley so she figured out that was where he was.

Winston Churchill credited the work done at Bletchley Park with winning the war.

Account of the Queen's speech, related info of her visit can be found at:

http://www.bletchleypark.org/news/docview.rhtm/646969

 I have what I call a treasure in the shop...a hand made but unfinished World War 2 silk tea cozy...with an RAF insignia...I have often wondered if it was made from a downed parachute...but have no way of knowing for sure...

The tea cozy was never padded. Wonderful!

We remember....

Thanks for visiting. I will be joining

Tuesday Cuppa Tea