The two sisters, reunited after World War II, lived quietly until one day at dinner they learned that each had kept a secret from the other for 30 years. They first heard the true biographies of each other, but the secret only rallied them more, because they, without knowing it, have always been similar not only in appearance, and they can safely be called Mrs. and Mrs. Smith.
Jean Argles and Patricia Davy are two sisters from Britain who took part in the Second World War and did not know about the role of each other even 30 years after the end of the conflict until one joint dinner changed everything.
Before the war, in the 1930s, the girls’ family hired a servant from Austria to teach the sisters German. This came in handy in 1939 – when the eldest, Patricia, turned 18, the government got her a job in a secret communications center, where she took up intercepting German radio waves and deciphering messages.
In 1943, Jean also became an adult. She was appointed to a secret officer position in codes and ciphers and sent to Cairo, and then to Italy. In both countries, the girl supported the allies and helped the partisans.
Thus, throughout the Second World War, both sisters, without even realizing it, worked as decipherers. Moreover, they did not have the opportunity to talk about their service to anyone, including their own family.
First of all, we signed an official document on state secrets. It was pretty scary because it said that if I let it out, the punishment would be death,” Patricia told the BBC.
That is why neither Jean nor Patricia ever revealed these parts of their biographies. Only 30 years later, when they gathered for a joint dinner, Patricia decided to ask what her relative was doing in Egypt. Since the war was over, the women decided to tell each other the truth about their past.
Despite the secrets kept for three decades, Patricia and Jean did not quarrel but began to understand each other much better. Perhaps they realized that everything that happened in the war should be there and remain, as did the guy who accidentally revealed to his father the secret past of his family.
Ultimately, the sisters decided to share their story with the world and in the summer of 2020 published the book Codebreaking Sisters: Our Secret War
