A brave young man from Crewe had one hell of a secret to keep during World War II and it was no ordinary secret but frontline codebreaker Bernard Morgan was no ordinary young man. He knew the “German war” was over BEFORE the rest of the world . “I had a lot of secrets up here,” Bernard said, tapping his head as he told The Mirror about his memories of the war. Bernard, then 20, was the youngest RAF sergeant to land on D-Day and was known as "Sergeant Morgan, the Airmens’ friend". He saw his fair share of terror, positioned close to the front line as the troops moved through Belgium, Holland and Germany. Referring to the bible he kept in his top right pocket of his jacket, Bernard, now 101, said: “We all said our prayers every night because we knew we were in danger. Our unit was so near the army.” Bernard and his unit had advanced through the dead bodies on Gold beach in Normandy on June 6 1944 and had a narrow escape when an RAF Lancaster crash landed just feet away - killing six men. His crucial role in World War II was to pass on messages to show where the planes were needed to “fight the enemy”. Bernard explained how, in the run-up to what would be VE Day he was working in the intelligence unit set up in a field near a small village called Schneverdingen in Germany. A few days before they’d arrived in the village, a “big pit” had been built by the Germans, with dozens of dead prisoners dumped inside in a bid to hide their war crimes. Locals told them the Russian prisoners were stood on the edge of the pit and shot, falling dead - or dying - into their prepared grave. “We’d heard about the concentration camps but to see the results was very upsetting, so near to the end of the war as well,” he said. But after three months stationed in Germany, he was left "overjoyed" after decoding a very different type of message. Sitting in the care home where he lives in Crewe, Bernard, carefully holds the two messages he typed up and has spent 80 years looking after - 50 years of that in secret until he was finally free to speak about them in 1995. He reads out both of the treasured messages he decoded, the first from May 4th, 1945, which was: “SECRET….All hostilities on second army front cease at 0800 hours tomorrow May 5…” The second message read: “The German war is now over. At Rheims last night the instrument of surrender was signed which in effect is a surrender of all personnel of the German forces, all equipment, shipping and all machinery in Germany…nothing will be destroyed anywhere. 'The surrender is effective some time tomorrow, this news will not be communicated with anyone outside the service nor to members of the press.' “I couldn’t tell anyone what I did in the war because I’d signed a secrecy document, my parents didn’t even know what I did,” says Bernard. Of his VE Day experience, Bernard recalled how he had to keep the secret from the 300 airmen in his unit. "This message came by morse code via the RAF wireless operators. They gave me the coded message and then the keyboard on the Typex machine, you typed the message out. As I realised what it said; I thought ‘this could be the last one I’m doing’. We knew that was the end of war in Europe. “It was only the cipher staff allowed in the office and we always had dinner together because we were not allowed to talk to anyone else. It told us the war in Germany would finish and nobody was to be advised. Two days later the telegram said the war was over...I was overjoyed to see that one." That's when the party started. “There was plenty of drink but I didn’t drink because I was a very keen athlete. But it was wonderful watching them all party. They were all quite merry, singing along. Lili Marlene. It was a German (love) song that the army captured.” Bernard breaks into song, explaining how he sings it at choir practice at his care home, to the “younger” residents. Going back to his VE Day memory, he added: “It was a great atmosphere. Some of the lads went to the forest and shot a deer and carried it back in traditional style with a pole over the shoulder and the deer hanging down. “By chance the sergeant in charge of the cooking was a butcher in civvy street. Plenty of beer came from the airmen’s and officers’ mess. “We had a big party, they chopped down trees from the local wood and had a giant bonfire. There was a lot of singing.” In the days following the incredible news, Bernard’s diary shows how his life transformed. He notes how instead of decoding urgent messages he: “Won a three mile cross country race, Scored a goal in a 4-3 win against the army party in the officers mess, played softball. It was one of 12 football games he’d played during the war, including one on the landing craft on the way to Normandy, which was a draw. His football boots were always strapped to his kit bag. Before joining the forces Bernard used to be a clerical officer in Crewe for the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, which involved a lot of typing. But on his 18th birthday he signed up and after basic training spotted an advert titled 'Code and cipher staff required - immediate overseas posting.' On his way across the channel, the troops were given a French phrase book, the only clue as to their destination and the horror that awaited them. As the youngest RAF sergeant to land at D-Day, Bernard was given the jobs “nobody else wanted” like manning the Bren gun on the landing craft before they arrived on Gold beach on D-Day. Having traversed the bodies and hellish scenes on Gold Beach, Bernard, was left behind a Bren gun at a three-road junction where he admitted to being “frightened to death”. Tragically he lost three young wireless operators in Normandy. He never forgets their sacrifice and still visits their graves whenever he is able. “They were the lads bringing me the messages," he says: "One of them was 19 and two were 20.” He tears up as he recalls the men he’d always address by their first names. After the Germans surrendered his unit was disbanded and returned back to England but it would be another 12 months before his war was over. He was given tropical kit and sent to join HMS Corfu, heading for Japan. But the Japanese surrendered before they made it there and instead he spent 12 months in India, where he contracted diphtheria and had to fight for his life in a Delhi hospital for three months. His weight dropped to just seven stone, but he kept his illness a secret from his mum as he was an only child. as he didn't want to worry them. “She said ‘you must be poorly, your letters are stamped at the British Military Hospital in Delhi’. "If she knew I'd got diphtheria my mother would have had a heart attack so I wrote back and told a white lie and told her I was doing the typing, " he said. “Strangely enough when I got better they had me doing all their typing for the hospital! "When I got home I told her. She broke down in tears to think I'd been so ill." After his war was finished the talented sportsman, a cross-country running champion, missed out by seconds on qualifying for the 1,500m run in the 1948 London Olympics, losing to comedian Bobby Davro's father Bill Nankeville. Bernard worked on the railways and was a turnstile operator for local footie team Crewe Alexandra for 57 years. His 51-year marriage ended with his wife's death and he has one daughter, Sheila. “The ones who won the war are the ones who gave their lives, they are the ones we have to thank really. I’d also like to thank the Royal British Legion for the care and attention they have given to all troops and civilians for many years. They have looked after me throughout my air force career and beyond.” During his return to mark D-Day last year a great grandchild, Albie arrived and his family snapped our Mirror front page in his cot to mark the occasion and pay tribute to his brave great grandad.