POSTWAR / COLD WAR VI's
This may be a delicate subject but in my quest to fully understand the role of our World War Two Voluntary Interceptors I discovered that the process did not cease at the end of World War Two. I have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt through interviews, and letters that here in Northern Ireland Voluntary Interceptors continued to supply GCHQ or a department within MI8c with signals intelligence. I appreciate that the names of these individuals will never be released but I would like to know if this service and recruitment of VI's continued in other parts of the United Kingdom? I would also like to know if anyone can add something of the history / detail. I know it was continued in a similar way to the wartime process, but that is all. I am attaching a photograph of a gentleman who served in the Merchant Navy during the war, who was a keen radio amateur before and after the war and was himself recruited by a wartime and postwar VI. His name is not given for obvious reasons. The gentleman passed away some years ago.
I remember hearing something about that years ago, it was said by someone that it was probably why some prominent local radio amateurs had receivers like HRO, AR88 which were very expensive.
The only person that I knew who had been a VI was John GM3BQN. He used to show me some of the letters they received with instructions, he had quite a collection.
Unfortunately I rang him one week, not having heard from him for some time, and was told he had died. Seemed to be a relative with no knowledge of radio so probably all destroyed.
He probably started quite young, he seems to have been too young for military service so worked for the BBC as an engineer - in those days you did everything, transmitters, PO lines etc. He went on to be a history lecturer at Glasgow University but told me that after the end of the war he was contacted by someone and asked if he was interested in doing similar listening work somewhere abroad. He did not take up the offer, it sounded rather risky!