The plaque honouring the Guernsey Active Secret Press is now displayed at 34, St George’s Esplanade, which presently houses the restaurant China Red.
Relatives of those involved in the operation were among a crowd of about 60 people who were present at yesterday’s ceremony, with Bailiff Sir Richard McMahon officially unveiling the plaque.
GASP was started by its editor Ludovic Bertrand in 1942 following confiscation of radio sets by the Nazi occupying forces.
Over the next three years, he and a group of what eventually grew to be more than 20 agents worked to gather, record and circulate information captured from BBC broadcasts on a radio Mr Bertrand made in secret following the confiscation.
Information was initially handwritten by Mr Bertrand as he heard it, before his paperwork was hidden for agent Reg Warley to pick up and take to 34, St George’s Esplanade – at the time Moullin’s Cycle Shop – where it was written up on typewriters and subsequently passed on to island officials, including the Bailiff.
Accredited local tour guide Amanda Johns, who has a family connection to Mr Bertrand and nominated GASP for a blue plaque two years ago, said it was fitting the plaque should be unveiled in the week leading up to the 80th anniversary of the Liberation.
‘There were many near misses of them being found out, and all involved risked their lives in being part of this organisation,’ she said.
‘Indeed, their fellow islanders in the Guernsey Underground News Service ended up being deported, so it’s likely the same fate would have met them had they been caught.
‘Their brave actions deserve to be commemorated.’
Among those present at the unveiling was Angela Radford, Mr Bertrand’s niece.
She said it was ‘really pleasing and touching’ that so many people had turned out to see the plaque.
‘My father was involved in GASP too, he used to speak about it a lot with us,’ she said.
Mary Sims, whose parents Irwin and Madeleine were key agents in passing on information to the Bailiff, described the plaque as ‘fabulous’.
‘They were all taking such a huge risk in doing what they did,’ she said.
‘It is an honour for me to be here today and to see their efforts recognised in such a way.’
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