Enigma hero set to be given Green Plaque in Earl Shilton
A SECOND World War hero from Earl Shilton is to be honoured with a commemorative plaque.
Tommy Brown was instrumental in cracking the Nazi Engima machines, and was voted by the public to receive one of Leicestershire County Council’s Green Plaque awards.
He was one of 12 historical figures vying for a plaque, including Quakers movement founder George Fox, from Fenny Drayton, and Loughborough-based industrialist and philanthropist George Spencer.
The plaque bearing Tommy’s name, birth and death date, and his historical significance, will be put up outside his old home in Station Road in Earl Shilton.
John Reed from Hinckley nominated him for the accolade.
He described Tommy as “a self-sacrificing lad who always put others ahead of his own safety.”
Tommy Brown was originally from Newcastle, and moved to Earl Shilton at the age of 14 to work for Abbots shoe factory.
When he turned 16, he falsified documents so he could join the Royal Navy, becoming a NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes) canteen assistant.
He served aboard HMS Petard, which tracked down and damaged German U-boat U-559 in 1942.
The submarine’s crew flooded the vessel before they surrendered, so Tommy and two other seaman swam across in search of the fourrotor Enigma cipher machine.
Intercepting the machines that deciphered messages from Nazi high command was vital for resisting attacks from the U-boats, and so turning the tide of the war.
Tommy swam naked back and forth from the U-boat to Petard’s ‘whaler’ with the equipment, and narrowly escaped a watery grave, unlike his colleagues.
They both received a posthumous George Cross, while Tommy was awarded a George Medal for his brave work, despite still being a civilian.
While his accolade was arranged, Tommy’s actual age came to light, and he was sent home, only to return to the Petard in 1944 as a senior canteen assistant.
He was posted to HMS Belfast in Tynemouth in 1945, but was allowed to sleep at home as his mother lived nearby.
In the early hours of February 13, 1945, a fire started at their flat, with Tommy, his mother and nine of his 11 siblings inside.
All escaped except Tommy and his four-year-old sister Maureen, whom he had attempted to save.
Tommy was just 19 when he died.
The full extent of his importance only came to light very recently with the repeal of the Official Secrets Act 1911.
The date for unveiling the plaque is yet to be confirmed.