Blind Mansfield WWII veteran proud to be marching at the Cenotaph in London this Remembrance Sunday with charity that’s 'kept her independent'

Margaret Wilson, aged 99, will be marching with more than 40 other blind veterans supported by Blind Veterans UK, the national charity for vision-impaired ex-servicemen and women.

Margaret joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in 1942, after some resistance from her mother, who “didn’t think it was a suitable career path”.

Margaret said: “My father disagreed, he was a military man, and signed my papers to get in.”

Margaret initially served as a wireless operator,

She said: “It was hard, we got bombed left right and centre, I don’t know how I’m still here.

“I watched a plane come down at RAF Syerston.

“I had to send a message in Morse code to another airfield down south, to say ‘it is with regret we have to inform you that your son was killed’.

“It stays with you, you can’t forget things like that.”

Later in the War, Margaret trained in Vital Communications and went on to work as a codebreaker at Bletchley Park.

After signing the official secrets act, she was sworn in by a Justice of the Peace.

She said: “I was told me to never ever talk to anyone about the work we were doing there and that I must take it to my end of days.”

Like many veterans, Margret has kept her vow and never spoken about the secrets.

Margaret lost her sight much later in life due to age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of sight loss in older people.

Fortunately, she found out about Blind Veterans UK and started receiving support from the charity in 2016.

She said: “You try to get by as long as you can when you’re told you’re losing your sight, but when it started to get very bad I did feel really miserable. I can’t see to read or write now.

“The biggest impact the charity has had on me was meeting and being around all those other people, many who had much worse sight than me, who were getting on with life.

“Before I visited the charity’s wellbeing centre I felt really low, but being there really picked me up.

“Everyone helps one another, it’s brilliant.

“Honestly, the charity is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

“They’ve shown me how to do all sorts of things in new ways since I lost my sight.

“Things like gardening which I never thought I would be able to do again.

Margaret is now looking forward to marching with her fellow blind veterans at the Cenotaph this Remembrance Sunday.

She said: “I come from a military family, my parents, grandparents, uncles, great uncles, they were all in the military.

“It’s always been something important for my family so it means the world to be joining the commemorations at the Cenotaph.

“I’ll be thinking of my dad, who served in the Second World War and was the only one in my family who wanted me to sign up.”