Violet Phillips (nee Bailey)

Birthplace: London, United Kingdom

Branch of Service: Other

Unit: SHAEF

Theater of Operation: European

Enlisted / Commissioned: Feb 1, 1941

Discharged: Apr 1, 1945

Honored By: Husband, John Henry Phillips

Violet was proud to have served her King and Country under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower during World War II. She was assigned to Headquarters Company, HQ Command Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF). She was billeted at Bushy Park, near Kingston-Upon-Thames, in England and traveled by underground train to Goodge Street Station. There she would enter a secret door, adjacent to a department store, which led to an elevator to take her down 300 feet into General Eisenhower’s bunker. In the bunker, Violet sent secret coded messages to the front line troops. At Army camp, Violet was privileged to have danced to Glen Miller’s band and to enjoy American food in wartime Britain. Violet managed to survive all the bombings, including the V1 Rockets (Doodle-Bugs) and the V2 Rockets. Her father served in the Army trenches during World War I and of her three brothers, one served in the Army campaigns in Burma and Italy and two served National call-up duty in the Army. Violet’s husband, John says, ‘You will see from the photograph that Violet was an attractive and lovely person and I was fortunate to have met her in 1953 and to have made her my wife in 1955.’ Branch of Service Details: Royal Signal Corp