Bellevue woman’s unspoken heroism during World War II may soon become a full-length film
This picture, taken after the end of the war in Europe but while combat was still underway in the Pacific, shows members of the Women’s Royal Navy Service, posing with double-decker buses — their supposed service to mask that they were involved in a top secret decoding program. Jean Watters, then Jean Briggs, is pictured in the back row, sixth from the left. (Courtesy of Robin Watters)
LINCOLN — For years, Jean Watters kept secret her critical role in helping defeat Hitler in World War II.
Watters, who was born in Suffolk, England, worried that she’d slip up and accidentally reveal what she had sworn to withhold — she even had nightmares about it.
But for more than three decades, long after the war was over, she withheld her past from her husband, American pilot John Watters, as they made a new life, with six children, in the Omaha suburb of Bellevue.
Eventually, after the British government declassified the existence of the “Ultra programme” to decipher the codes used by the German Armed Forces, Jean could reveal her wartime work.
Now, her story of heroism might get a much wider audience.
A documentary on her work as one of the British “code breakers” was posted recently on a YouTube channel operated by a partnership that highlights the exploits of military veterans.
All-out war effort
A 20-minute film, “Decoding Jean: Secrets of WWII,” focuses on a then-18-year-old girl’s sacrifice during the war as part of the all-out effort in England to defeat Hitler, as well as Watters’ dedication to her duty to keep unsaid her work as a code breaker.
If the video gets enough “views” and finds financing, the amazing story of a young English woman’s work to crack the codes used by the German Army may become a feature length film.
They weren’t unique.… They were surrounded by people doing this. But these were a different kind of people, with stunning courage.
– Robin Watters
“She and her husband were interesting people that told an increasable story of WWII,” said filmmaker Daniel Bernardi, president and director of El Dorado Films, which produced the documentary.
“We are looking at turning it into a feature-length story, and bring in more of her husband’s story,” he said. “But for that to happen, we need to raise additional funds.”
El Dorado Films, in conjunction with San Francisco State University, are partners in the “Veteran Documentary Corps,” which posts its work on a YouTube channel.
Two of Jean Watters’ children, Pete of Lincoln and Robin of Jamestown, Rhode Island, said turning the story of their parents into a full-length film would be a fitting tribute to their service and sacrifice during the war.
Top aide to Gen. LeMay
John Watters, who died in 2018 at age 101, flew more than 25 missions as a navigator and bombardier aboard a B-17 bomber from his base in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, Jean’s hometown. He insisted on flying more than the required 25 missions — most didn’t survive 10 — so he would obtain better information about the bombing runs because of his role as the planner for the next missions.
He served as a top aide to Gen. Curtis LeMay at Offutt Air Force Base before his retirement.
His wife, as one of the 10,000 people involved in the Enigma codebreaking program, fed intercepted German messages into an electromechanical machine known as a “bombe.”
The machine, which has been described as an early version of a computer, deciphered Nazi military commands, providing a warning for the Allies of troop movements and impeding submarine attacks. It shortened the war and prevented countless deaths, officials have said.
“We were reading their military mail, we knew where their people were going,” Robin Watters said. “It was really, really advantageous to know that.”
Jean Watters, a talented artist, turned down a deferment to attend art school to enlist in the Women’s Royal Navy Service, known as the “Wrens.” At one point, she told her family she was being trained as a driver, concealing her top secret service. Robin Watters said his mother avoided coming home on weekends, perhaps as a way to avoid slipping up and revealing what she was doing.
“It’s hard to convey to people today the mindset of people like my parents,” he said.
“They weren’t unique.… They were surrounded by people doing this,” he said. “But these were a different kind of people, with stunning courage.”
Sought advice from Churchill
His father, he said, pledged to marry Jean Briggs the first time he laid eyes on her at a dance at the base in Bury St Edmunds.
They dated throughout the war, but when it came time to plan a new life in the United States, they faced roadblocks because of Jean’s secret service during the war and because she was still a member of the British Navy.
It wasn’t until John Watters wrote to former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, then the leader of the opposition party in the United Kingdom, that he found out how he could marry his sweetheart: Get married first, an aide to Churchill advised, then request a move to America.
Robin Watters, a Navy retiree, said his mother was “old school,” which meant that when she signed a pledge to keep her top secret war work secret, she kept it secret.
He said he was too young to really process that she’d been a key contributor in Hitler’s defeat when his mother finally told her family. His father, as a military member himself, understood why she had kept her wartime heroism from him.
“Having secrets is just part of the job,” Robin Watters said. “To do something of that importance, that young, it’s pretty impressive.”
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