Edinburgh war hero Patsy Mundie shares her memories of working in special operations during the Second World War as she turns 100

After it was announced in May 1945 that the Allies had defeated Nazi Germany, Patsy Mundie avoided talking about the war.

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Decades have now passed but, as she celebrates her 100th birthday, Patsy still remembers the pain of being forced to say goodbye to her beloved husband Douglas with no knowledge of when, or if, they would be reunited.

She was only 19 when the pair got married but just 10 days after they wed, Douglas was sent to fight in the Burma campaign.

Douglas and Patsy Mundie had a very happy married life before Douglas' sudden death at the age of 57.

Living just a short distance from London, the war years also saw Patsy live in constant fear of air raids, narrowly escaping disaster on a few occasions. And she grew used to receiving tragic news of and grieving dear friends who hadn’t been so lucky.

But not all Patsy’s experiences of the Second World War were shared by all those on the home front.

For years, she worked for the secret operations unit, transmitting codes to agents working behind enemy lines. It was a job about which she could and did tell no one, with her own family having only found out about it years after the war was over. It was that work that saw Patsy awarded a service medal five years ago.

It started with Patsy going to work in the land army after war was declared in 1939; a job in which she stayed for around two and a half years.

Patsy Mundie has shared her memories as she celebrates her 100th birthday

Having only started school at the age of nine or 10, Patsy’s qualifications were non-existent - it was only thanks to her older brother Patrick that she could read - but her ability to drive set her apart from the rest.

She left the land army to become a driver for the Marconi Company in Chelmsford, just six miles from her hometown of Ingatestone.

“When my husband went to Burma I was left on my own and I felt I had to get away from Essex,” said Patsy, speaking from the Edinburgh home in which she has lived for around 60 years.

Douglas and Patsy Mundie got married at St Mary's Church in Great Baddow, Essex, on December 23 1941. Douglas had to leave to fight in the Burma campaign just 10 days later.

Following her stint with Marconi, Patsy joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, during which time she was asked if she would be interested in going on a special course.

“I said yes and they sent me to a big house for 10 days where I went through hell,” she said. “The house was bitterly cold and there was only cold water to wash in. We had to scrub the floors and half of the 36 girls who started went home.

“I wanted to stay because I didn’t want to go back to Essex. But during that time, I was very vocal and kept saying ‘I’ll sort the officers out’.

“At the end of the 10 days, I went into an interview with all these officers who were smiling. One of them said ‘what are you going to say to us then?’

Patsy Mundie celebrated her 100th birthday on Tuesday, April 26 2022 and received a card from The Queen.

“They all started to laugh and it turned out the whole house was bugged. I was mortified, I was so embarrassed.”

But the officers showed a liking for Patsy and asked her to go on another special six-month course, where she was found to have an aptitude for high speed morse code.

“I ended up working to the underground for MI5 and sent messages to Bletchley,” she said. “I also made contact with agents on enemy lines and things like that.”

It has been almost 80 years since Patsy would have sent her last message in Morse code, but the centenarian can still remember the code for ‘I have a message for you’.

The end of the war was a great relief for Patsy but her mind couldn’t fully be at rest until her husband returned home.

Patsy Mundie is pictured in her First Aid Nursing Yeomanry uniform in 1943

“He was still on the Burma campaign and he didn’t come back for three months,” she said. “I spent that time still terrified that he wouldn’t come back. But thankfully he came home to us and we got back together and had a very happy life.”

Once reunited, the young couple relocated to Lincoln, where Douglas was posted with the army. Once he too was demobbed and offered his old job back with the Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh, they moved to Douglas’ hometown of Falkirk.

The years to follow saw the couple welcome three sons - Ian, Hamish and Angus - and move to the Capital. Thirteen years after her youngest son was born, Patsy was shocked to discover was pregnant again and the couple’s daughter Fiona was born in 1963.

But Patsy’s world came crashing down when Douglas had a heart attack and suddenly died at the age of just 57.

Tragedy struck again in 2002 when Angus, who worked as an airline pilot, was diagnosed with a brain tumour, from which he died when he was 52.

“Their deaths were real disasters in my life,” said Patsy. “I can’t really describe it as anything other than that. It was devastating.”

While many may have been consumed by grief, Patsy has always been one to focus on the positives in her life.

“Over the years I’ve learned to accept what happened. I suppose when we were at war, I lost a lot of friends and you had to just grow to accept it,” she said.

“It’s obviously different when it’s your family but the way I coped was to say to people how lucky I was to have had such a lovely son for 52 years. I just had to say that otherwise I’d have been in floods of tears all the time. But he was wonderful and I miss him everyday.”

On Tuesday, Patsy turned 100 and received so many cards, gifts and well wishes from all those whose lives she’s touched over the years. As well as her telegram from The Queen, she also received a special card from her sporting hero Andy Murray.

Yesterday she celebrated with 60 family members and friends at Murrayfield Golf Club, where the family had also gathered decades before to mark Patsy’s mother’s 100th birthday.

And Patsy and her family believe her bright, positive outlook has been her real secret to a long life.

“When I was young, I was never allowed to make a fuss. My mother used to tell me to go and find something to do to forget about whatever was bothering me,” she said.

“I’ve always just had to think about what I can do to feel better. I think that’s given me a lot of strength.”

Patsy, who has eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren with another on the way, added that spending time in nature, living in her own home and being surrounded by her loving family have been among her greatest blessings in life.

“I had such a happy married life and I have a wonderful family. I’m so lucky really, I always say I must have a lucky angel on my shoulder to have had such a wonderful life.”