Denton typed top secrets before D-Day

[Kyt]

People Features | 1/6/08 Denton typed top secrets before 1944 Normandy invasion

On the morning of June 6, 1944, Helen Denton went to work early. At 5 a.m., as she walked from her bomb-shelter bedroom across London's Berkeley Square to her office in Allied headquarters, hundreds of planes filled the sky.

Allied planes over London were a common sight and Denton didn't give it another thought. She remembers hearing birds chirping in the park and thinking what a nice morning it was.

Hours later, her mood darkened dramatically when she and others huddled around a small radio as an announcer relayed a brief, stark message from Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower:

"The invasion started at 5 a.m. this morning."

As Londoners cheered the news that the Allies were taking the fight to Hitler on his home turf, Denton's heart sank.

For the previous two months, she had spent most of her waking moments typing top secret plans for the Allied invasion. She had also typed the casualty estimates, which were staggering.

"My heart was so heavy," she says. "I realized that as I was going to work that morning, our boys were just hitting the beach and I knew thousands were expected to be killed."

"I couldn't think about the invasion for worrying about the casualties," she says. "But we did what we could and tried to remember we still had a job to do."

Denton can hardly remember a time she didn't have a job to do. She was born and raised on the South Dakota farm her father and grandfather homesteaded. When she wasn't in school, she was working on the farm.

After graduating from high school in 1939, she attended business school for two years. In 1942, she landed a job as chief clerk for the power company in Sherburn, Minn.

The job was good, but Denton's social life couldn't have been much worse. Most of the eligible young men had joined the service, and it was hard to find a date. Denton decided to go where the boys were.

"I figured if all the men were in the Army, I'd sign up, too," she says.

It didn't take the Army long to figure out Denton was as personable as she was smart, and after basic training, she was sent to Kansas City to work as a recruiter.

In 1944, as the war reached its peak in Europe and the Pacific, able-bodied soldiers assigned to clerical duties in the States were sent to the front lines and replaced with women.

Denton was ordered to Fort Crook, Neb., for secretarial duties. Just weeks later, her boss said he had to select one woman for a "special assignment." Eisenhower was moving his headquarters to London and was looking for top-notch secretarial help.

"I told him I'd love to do the job," Denton says.

Denton was sent to Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., to be trained by FBI agents. She was told she could never divulge to anyone what she was doing.

For the next 50 years, she never did. Not even her husband, who passed away in 1982, knew of her involvement with the Normandy invasion.

"They told me not to tell, so I didn't," she says. "I figured the FBI might be checking up on me, and I didn't want any trouble."

Denton finally broke her silence after the 50th anniversary celebration of the Normandy invasion in 1994.

"Everybody was talking about everything," she says, "so I figured it would be OK if I said something, too."

By then, Denton had quite a tale to tell.

In March 1944, Denton arrived in London. She was housed in the third level of an underground bomb shelter. British military personnel occupied the second level. The first level, closest to the street, was reserved for use by British civilians during German bombing raids.

"The buzz bombs came almost every day," Denton says. "You never knew when, though. That was the hardest part ... just waiting and wondering."

On her first day at work, Denton was shown to a small office with a guard posted outside at all times. Five officers came by and said she would be taking dictation from them and that every paper she typed must be stamped "Top Secret."

It didn't take Denton long to figure out she was working on the plans for the Normandy invasion.

Her day-to-day duties were deadly serious, but free weekends gave Denton and others a chance to see some of London's sights. One Saturday, she and a fellow worker decided to tour nearby Windsor Castle, one of the royal residences.

They arrived to learn King George VI and his family were there and the tour would be limited. Denton was in a large room admiring some art when a door opened and in walked the King of England, the queen and their two daughters, princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.

Denton was floored. She knew this was a big moment but had no idea what to do. "I didn't know whether to bow or curtsey or kiss his ring," she says, "so I just stuck out my hand and said I'm Helen Kogel and I'm an American on Ike's staff."

The king smiled, then pointed to his oldest daughter and asked, "Have you met Elizabeth?"

In 1944, the woman who eight years later would become Queen Elizabeth II was involved in the war effort, driving Allied officers all over London. One of her regular stops was Allied headquarters, where she met many Americans. The king wondered if Denton (then Kogle) was one of them.

Before a flustered Denton could answer, Princess Elizabeth said, "I hope to see you around."

Denton also toured 10 Downing St., the official residence of the prime minister. While she was there, tea was served. Denton was sipping her brew when Winston Churchill walked in, filled his cup and left. He didn't speak, but the moment was exciting enough for Denton to write her mother and say: "I had tea with Churchill today."

Denton finished typing the invasion plans in late April 1944. Days later, an officer came in with a 3-inch book containing all her work. He said he was going to present the plan to Eisenhower, and asked if she'd like to come along and meet her boss for the first time.

When she stood before Eisenhower, he asked, "Do you know what you've typed?"

She said, "Yes, it's the plan for the invasion of France."

Eisenhower's next question bowled her over: "Do you know you have a brother over here?"

Denton's heart leaped. She knew her brother, Jerry, was in the Army, but she hadn't seen him in three years and had no idea where he was.

Eisenhower said her brother was nearby, in Salisbury, with Patton's Third Armored Division. He then told her to pack her bags because she was going to see her brother on a three-day pass.

"I was stunned," she says. "Here was a man with thousands of things to worry about and he went to the trouble of finding out I had a brother over there and then arranged for us to meet. It takes a special man to do that. It was just wonderful."

After the invasion, German V-I rocket attacks on London became more frequent and it was decided to move Eisenhower's staff to Paris as soon as the city was liberated. In late July, Denton boarded a troop ship for the beaches of Normandy.

Not long after she arrived, a young soldier — soaking wet from wading ashore in waist- deep water — in a jeep said he would be glad to drive her to where her gear and dry clothes were being unloaded.

Noel Denton didn't have to say much else. As soon as she saw him, Helen was smitten. "I thought he was the handsomest man I'd ever seen," she says. "If it wasn't love at first sight, it was sure close."

Noel Denton worked for Southern Bell before the war and was in France to help set up communications in Eisenhower's new Paris offices. Whenever he and Helen had a spare moment, they were together.

When Noel left for Paris, Helen didn't know if she'd ever see him again. She needn't have worried. When Helen arrived in Paris, there was still sporadic street fighting, and the secretaries were told to stay in their hotel. After two days with barely anything to eat, Helen was shocked when Noel drove up with a truck full of food, and a great, big smile.

They were never apart again. Although military duties kept them both busy, they found time for each other as often as possible.

The end of the war provided a spectacle Helen Denton will never forget. After joining other WACS for a huge victory parade down the Champs-Élysées, she and others gathered on a hotel rooftop for a magical moment. After five years of overnight blackouts, Paris once again became the City of Lights.

First, the lights went on at the Place de la Concorde, then at the Basilique du Sacré-CÏur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart), then the Eiffel Tower. Finally, floodlights washed over the Arc de Triomphe.

"That's when we knew it was really over," Denton says. "It was a beautiful sight."

Helen came home in October 1945. Noel wasn't far behind. They were marred in the spring of 1946 and moved back to his hometown of Atlanta, building a house in Jonesboro and later moving to Riverdale.

They adopted a son, Jon. When Jon was in high school, Helen took a job with Delta. In 1982, she decided to retire. What should have been a happy time turned out to be the worst year of her life.

In February of that year, Jon was killed in a house fire. Six months later, Noel died.

Helen Denton was alone, but she didn't give up.

"Tough things happen in life," she says. "You can go up or down depending on how you approach things. I decided to get involved."

She became active with the Red Cross and joined the VFW, eventually becoming State Commander. Denton, who now calls Fayetteville home, is also a frequent visitor at area schools, including Newnan High, where she is a regular guest speaker at the school's World War II history class.

"It's a privilege to speak to the kids and I really enjoy it," she says. "I always tell them it's not the history that's important, but service to your country. You know what? I think they get it. I really do."