Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Anzac (Nancy) Blanche Milne nee Eccles
Nancy Eccles was born in Kalgoorlie Western Australia on 08 January 1916 to parents Alice nee Rose and Charles Eccles. Nancy’s father was the town clerk for Kalgoorlie having left Victoria and heading west to chase adventure and gold. Nancy was one of five sisters, Alicia, Mary, Patricia and Eleanor who were all high achievers with three of the daughters attending university in Western Australia. After completing her education at Eastern Goldfields High School in Kalgoorlie, (where she was school captain) Nancy moved to Perth to attend the University of Western Australia (UWA) and obtained a Batchelor of arts and a diploma in education. While she was a student, she joined the staff of Presbyterian Ladies College (PLC) in Perth where she remained while completing her degree, which she did in 1939.
At PLC Nancy taught geography, history, English, and physiology & hygiene while continuing her studies at UWA. She had an impact on the students, who recalled that she was nearly six feet tall with the manner of a sergeant major.
Nancy left PLC in 1941 to take up a new teaching position at Morongo Girls’ College at Geelong Victoria. Whilst living in Geelong, Nancy answered a newspaper advertisement seeking women with university qualifications to join the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF), this was the opportunity she was looking to join the war effort. At the age of 26 Nancy joined the WAAAF on 30 March 1942 as a trainee Officer and commissioned as an Assistant Section Officer.
The WAAAF was formed in March 1941 after considerable lobbying by women keen to serve and by the Chief of the Air Staff who wanted to release male personnel serving in Australia for service overseas. The WAAAF was the largest of the Second World War women's services.
Nancy’s first posting, after ADMIN course, was to Headquarters Southern Area at RAAF Base Laverton followed by a posting to Headquarters North Eastern Area at Townsville. Life in Townsville in 1942 was exciting with lots of parties and dancing. She was also at the centre of intelligence reporting in the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA) that encompassed northern Queensland, New Guinea and west to Guadalcanal which provided her with an insider’s view of what was really happening in the war in the Pacific.
It was here in Townsville that Nancy met her future husband William Lloyd Milne- known as Lloyd- who was a pilot flying Hudson’s with 32 SQN. Lloyd was piloting one of two Hudson’s that found the Japanese fleet heading to Guadalcanal which led to the allied naval disaster known as the battle of Savo Island where the Australian cruiser HMAS Canberra, USS Quincy, USS Astoria and USS Vincennes were sunk. If the reports of the sighting had been taken seriously, the disaster may have been avoided.
Her work in Townsville was in the thick of intelligence of the SWPA and she covered the period of the battles for Coral Sea, Guadalcanal and Milne Bay. Her job would have been to collect and correlate information received from the front lines including operations, battle and casualty reports. This information needed to be analysed, prioritised and passed to higher HQ in Brisbane and Melbourne.
Nancy remained in Townsville until December 1943 when she was posted to RAAF HQ followed by RAAF Command in June 1944. At RAAF Command Nancy worked in The Enemy Appreciation Section (A2) – a section that undertook a study and appreciation of enemy air strength, organisation and capabilities and prepared appreciations on the enemy situation. This section received information from all sources including the highly classified SIGINT, known as MAGIC or ULTRA, which was achieved by breaking Japanese codes. This followed by a move to the Central Interpretation Unit (A6) - central location for the interpretation of aerial imagery, the production of graphic intelligence including target and target maps, photographic and models of terrain and the collection, collation and distribution of enemy flak intelligence This section housed photographic interpreters, graphic artists, support personnel and a printing capability. Nancy’s final posting was to Advance Air Force HQ at Victoria Park Brisbane in September 1945 which was another area that sorted and analysed information provided by the advancing allied forces and turned it into usable intelligence. WCGDR Bob Wreford, a senior RAAF Intelligence Officer, stated that he thought that women made better intelligence officers as they were meticulous, took more time in research and looked for more details. The intellect and education of quite a few WAAAF Intelligence Officers made them exception Intelligence Officers though they were not provided the posting opportunities offered to the men due to the Australian government decision that WAAAFs were not to be posted overseas.
Nancy’s career in the Air Force exposed her to all facets of tactical and operational reporting which was synthesised into intelligence in direct support to the most senior Australian and Allied commanders. She held positions of great responsibility as she had access to information limited to very few people outside of the intelligence organisations. The work in Signals was so secret that she was told that she was never to tell anyone about the details of her work. When family members asked her what she did, she would reply that she was a signatory to the Official Secrets Act.
Now married to Lloyd with a family, Nancy found post war civilian life as disappointingly dull. She returned to teaching which allowed her to keep herself active. After the war Lloyd and William Stutt, the pilot of the other Hudson from the Salvo Island incident, were blamed by US Naval historian Rear Admiral Samuel Morison for not transmitting the sighting of the Japanese ships to warn Guadalcanal. This was of course incorrect and it infuriated Nancy that the official US Navy historian could get it so wrong. She endeavoured to have the two crew’s names cleared and the record set straight. Sadly she could not complete this work but her research was used in the book, Disaster in the Pacific, by Denis and Peggy Warner. It was through the post war efforts of people like Nancy and especially Eric Geddes (Wireless Air Gunner) on the other 32 SQN Hudson who wrote to the US President that the error was corrected. For further information see Hudson Pilot Report at Savo Island (ww2pacific.com)
Nancy was known as a strong and interested person, with an enquiring mind who had a wise head and was very practical. She was not a domestic goddess and not a stay at home person, (although she kept an elegant house) she preferred to be challenged intellectually and embrace the adventures that life would throw her way.