Few centenarians exhibit as much joie de vivre as Dorothea Barron who celebrates her 100th birthday today.
The Second World War heroine – who lied her way into the forces – played a pivotal role in the D-Day landings and has since become a poster girl for The Greatest Generation.
The indomitable centenarian might only stand 5ft tall but her fearlessness is as infectious as it is instantly-recognisable.
Just last month she took to the skies in a Spitfire as a thank you for her service to a country that owes her so much.
And tomorrow friends, family, and the last remaining vets from the days of the mighty military invasion of June 6, 1944, will come together to throw a party in honour of a woman aptly known as “Pixie”.
It will be a riot and, if Dorothea has her way, crammed full of mischief.
Signaller Dorothea, from Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire, lied about her height so she could join the Women’s Royal Naval Service in 1943.
She was so determined to join the WRNS she piled her hair up in a bun and stuffed cardboard in her shoes after being told she had to be at least the required entry height to stand any chance of signing up.
She said: “I really shouldn’t have been in the services. I was supposed to be 5ft 3ins and there is no way I was ever 5ft 3ins. I think they took pity on me and thought ‘poor thing she’s so keen to come we will let her in’.
“I stood very tall and they said, ‘Hmmmm’. And then they saw I was so determined, so they allowed me to crawl in.”
Dorothea taught soldiers how to use semaphore flags and transmit morse code ahead of the Normandy Invasion and was involved in testing the Mulberry harbours, prefabricated concrete ports used to bring reinforcements and equipment during the landings.
She was a visual signaller based on the south west coast of Scotland whose job was to help landing troops learn how to communicate using morse code and semaphore.
She said: “We didn’t know it but we were training people pre-invasion. You never ever disclosed what your job was.
“They saw VS on your uniform and knew it stood for visual signaller, but they didn’t know where you were or what you were doing.
“Having inadvertently, and not knowingly, trained these troops to disembark from a big liner then get into a tiny boat with all their equipment and food and then be carried to the sand, it really was a contribution but everybody contributed. I felt I had a purpose. I had really done something.
“I wish it had helped the poor chaps landing better. But we couldn’t stop the Germans bombing them on the beaches.”
Dorothea’s love for the forces was inspired by her Sydney Wallis, her uncle.
After leaving Twickenham County School she joined the WRNS – and served alongside older sister Daphne who had already signed up. Dorothea was just an 18-year-old rating, but played a crucial part in the development of Mulberry harbours off the coast of Normandy through which 2 million soldiers, 4 million tons of supplies and 500,000 vehicles passed, contributing to the Allied victory.
Dorothea married Andrew, a RAF navigator with 223 Squadron on Liberator aircraft, flying more than 40 missions, jamming German radar and decoy runs, on September 25, 1948. He later became a commercial navigator with Scottish Airlines, settling in Prestwick, before it set up from Stansted in Essex.
The couple were married for 72-years until his death from heart failure in 2021. They had two daughters, Fiona and Kati.
In 1968 Dorothea became an art teacher at a private primary school where she remained until her retirement in 1984.
Kati said: “I have huge respect and admiration for my mother and the ladies of her generation. She has reached this incredible milestone because she has always loved fruit and vegetables more than sweets and chips and she has always been active, doing amateur dramatics, sculpting, painting, gardening and of course yoga.
“At first she took up keep fit and then yoga, both of which have undoubtedly contributed to her good health in her later years. I think it is hard for my and current generations to understand how overlooked the women of her age must have felt.
“The Second World War necessitated women to be trained, to become skilled and competent members of the workforce thus allowing the men to fight on the frontline. They walked straight out of school and into work to do their bit for their country. Once peace was declared, these women were demobbed and in large part their jobs were handed back to the men returning from the frontline.
“The general way of life reverted to women looking after the home and the men bringing in the income. It was expected that any employed woman would hand in their resignation whenever they married. As a result of this experience, my parents encouraged me to be an independent career woman. I have worked in a time when households need two incomes to survive and when mothers are expected to work and raise families. I am very grateful for their moral support.”
Just a fortnight from Remembrance Sunday Dorothea, proudly wearing a Poppy 80-years on from her finest hour, said: “I certainly don’t feel 100-years-old but can’t quite believe I have reached three figures.”
