Margaret Betts, of Ipswich, Suffolk, was 19 when she was headhunted by "men from the ministry", having performed well at school, her son Jonathan Betts, 68, said.
He said she agreed to help, explaining: "She had recently lost her brother because his ship had been sunk by a German U-boat.
"It was absolutely tragic; he had just married, the whole family was in terrible shock and desperate to do something, to do their bit.
"She was inspired by this and said: 'Absolutely, any way I can help, I will.
"She wasn't told what it was, she was just told it would be highly secret work and that eventually she would be told what it was, but meanwhile she was to pack her bags and go to a clearing house in north London."
He said she was headhunted in 1942. After a selection process she started work codebreaking in the summer of 1943 and worked until Victory over Japan (VJ) Day in 1945.
"Like most of them did, she always played down her role," said Betts, who lives outside Salisbury, Wiltshire.
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