Edgar Harrison was born in South Wales on St David's Day in 1915. He was a senior colleague of Geoffrey Pidgeon in MI6 (Section VIII) and he had the most extraordinary adventures in World War II. He was in Norway at the time the Germans invaded from where he had to beat a hasty retreat, and was in Brussels during the Blitzkrieg before escaping back to England via Dunkirk. While stationed in Greece the Nazis launched an overwhelming attack. He made his escape via Kalamata in a rowing boat before being rescued by a British destroyer, MS Kandahar. He was landed in Crete where he handled the Ultra traffic during the invasion by the Germans, and later evacuated to Cairo where he spent time recuperating from the wounds sustained in Greece during the retreat to Kalamata.

During all this and more he was, on five occasions, the MI6 wireless operator assigned to Winston Churchill at meetings with Allied leaders. After the war Edgar became the Principal Signals Officer of the Foreign Office - not bad for a boy who joined the Royal Corps of Signals as a boy apprentice in 1929 – at the age of just 14.

Also available: The Secret Wireless War: The Story of MI6 Communications 1939-1945

© 2008, By Geoffrey Pidgeon. 232 pages, high-quality paper, paperback. Published by Arundel Books. ARRL is the exclusive US distributor.