Patsy, 95, given medal for war service at last
A 95-year-old woman from Edinburgh has finally been awarded a medal for her service in the Second World War.
Patsy Mundie has been recognised for her work in Britain’s Special Operations Executive as a cipher.
Her grandson, Simon Mundie, helped her obtain the War Medal 1939-1945 World War 2, which is awarded to all full-time personnel involved in the military campaign.
Mr Mundie described his grandmother as an “amazing woman”.
A 95-year-old woman from Edinburgh has finally been awarded a medal for her service in the Second World War.
Patsy Mundie’s story began when she was just 19 years old, her husband had been sent to Burma after only ten days of marriage and the country was in the clutches of war.
Patsy, who now lives in Murrayfield, said she was keen to join in the war effort at the outset, first offering her service in the Land Army.
The war began to change the landscape around Patsy, who was born in Essex, and the village where she lived was “taken over” by soldiers.
“We called them the Scotch Boys,” she laughed. It was a moment that would define the rest of her life – “I fell in love with one of the officers.”
Patsy married Douglas Mundie, an officer from Edinburgh who was in the Royal Artillery, in 1941.
She says of the second defining moment of her early years: “Somebody asked me if I would drive for a gentleman who had multiple sclerosis. He was an important scientist at Marconis.” This was Thomas L Eckersley, a British theoretical physicist whose instrumental work on direction finding and radar was recognised internationally.
She then applied to the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry who were in need of drivers. But interviewers in London persuaded Patsy in another direction. “I was told to stand outside a second-hand shop on a street in London and wait to be picked up and taken somewhere. So I said goodbye to my folks and set off. I remember that moment so well.
“It was in May and it was freezing – We had to scrub floors and peel potatoes and we did all this without knowing what for or why. Most dropped out but I stuck it out for the ten days.”
Patsy was then recruited into the Special Operations Executive to work as a Cipher.
After she demobbed in 1945, Douglas returned and they moved up to Edinburgh and forgot about the war. She had three sons, Ian, Hamish and Angus, and daughter Fiona.
And despite seven happy decades in Edinburgh, the post-war years have not been without tragedy. “I lost my husband when he was just 53 and my beloved son Angus when he was 50.
“I’ve been a widow for 46 years. Losing him was awful but losing a son was even worse. He was an airline pilot and he had a brain tumour.”
It was one proud grandchild, Simon Mundie, who has helped his grandmother get the War Medal 1939-1945 World War 2 – awarded to all full-time personnel during the campaign.
He said: “Gran is an amazing woman, a real inspiration to all her grandkids.”
Better late than never, as the old saying goes. Patsy Mundie was a heroine of the Second World War, working to relay coded messages to agents operating in France and Germany. The work she and others like her carried out was absolutely crucial to the war effort, yet her service has gone unacknowledged for decades.
Now, Mrs Mundie has received the War Medal, awarded to all full-time personnel who served between 1939-45. It’s perhaps appropriate that Mrs Mundie’s service is finally recognised as we mark the 100th anniversary of some British women receiving the right to vote. In the great scheme of things, a century is not a long time, and current scandals about the treatment of women by powerful men tell us that progress in tackling gender inequality is still unacceptably slow.
Tomorrow, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will lead a debate to mark the success of those suffragettes. She will also use the debate to highlight the need to do more to advance female representation throughout society. As we celebrate the overdue honour awarded to Patsy Mundie, we must remember that true gender equality is still far from a reality.