Bletchley Park WWII codebreakers honoured

The Foreign Secretary David Miliband has paid tribute to the work done by the World War II codebreakers at Bletchley Park who cracked the Enigma code used by Nazi Germany's military.

The Foreign Secretary was speaking at the manor house at Bletchley Park, where he presented commemorative medals to 35 veterans who were part of the 10,000-strong team that helped crack the codes used by the German, Japanese and Italian military.

A total of 1,000 medals have been sent to veterans.

Miliband said: "The people here are not just my heroes, they are also the heroes of the British people.

"The recognition of the veterans means...that the memory [of Bletchley Park] is going to be burnished and that the sense of pride and gratitude we feel is something that will never die."

He said the work at Bletchley Park had "brought to an end a terrible, hot war that had dominated Europe for a very long time."

He also said a national memorial will be established to honour the WWII codebreakers. "It is right that we find a site for a public memorial, we will work with GCHQ to find the right place to do this.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband with the director of the Bletchley Park Trust Simon Greenish and some of the veterans. (Photo credit: Nick Heath/silicon.com)

His announcement follows the recent award of £460,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to Bletchley Park and the apology by Prime Minster Gordon Brown to Alan Turing, the gifted Bletchley Park mathematician.