Alfeld-Augsburg-Bad Aibling-Bahrdorf-Bamburg- Baumholder- Bebra-Berlin-Bremen-Coburg-Frankfurt-Fulda-Giebelstadt-Giessen-Hammelburg- Heidwinkel-Heilbronn-Herzogenaurach-Hof-Kassel- Königslutter-Linz-Mahring-Malmsheim- Mannheim-Memmingen-Munich-Mt. Meissner-Nottau-Nürnberg- Oberursel-Offenbach- Passau-Rothwesten-Sontra-Salzburg-Scheyern- Vienna-Wasserkuppe- Weiden-Wels
The E-Mail Newsletter for SIS, ASA and INSCOM Veterans who served in Germany or Austria
Army Security Agency/Signal Intelligence Service
Forces in Germany and Austria
Volume 4 - Number 3
April 1, 2008
Ralph R. Thadeus - Editor
E-mail
us
REUNION 2008 – ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI – OCTOBER 2-4, 2008
In this issue we will feature St. Louis’ Forest Park, the 1,293 acre gem of the city’s park system. Located within the park are two golf courses, the Art Museum, tennis courts, the Grand Basin, our world renowned Zoo, the Missouri Historical Museum, 7.5 miles of bike path, handball courts and skating rink. All of this right outside the door of our Headquarters Hotel. To see more of what this urban gem has to offer please click on to this web site and view all of the attractions that the park has to offer: http://stlouis.missouri.org/citygov/parks/forestpark/.
Also check out http://www.forestparkforever.org.
Opened to the public in 1876, site of the 1904 Worlds Fair (Remember Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis?), Forest Park eclipses New York City’s Central Park by about 500 acres.
REUNION HEADS-UP: In next month’s edition of the Interceptor we will publish the 2008 reunion Planning Profile. It is your best guess on what your reunion intentions are and is NOT a firm commitment on your part to attend. Again, it is your best guess and helps me price the activities correctly. This Planning Profile will be more important this year than ever before. St. Louis will be inundated with visitors. The Joyce Meyers Ministries will be meeting the same weekend as our reunion as well as the city hosting the Soulard Oktoberfest. So, get your plans together now so you can submit your Planning Profile before the 1st of June.
More reunion information is on our web site so check it out periodically.
ASMN
Supporting Member Jamie Johnson (Scheyern 53-55) sent us a web site address that is supposed to identify criminals living in and around your particular neighborhood. Not much of a fan of these things but I though, what the heck, give it a try. Living in an upscale urban neighborhood I though it was pretty safe. Boy did I get a surprise. I never knew so many jerks lived near me. Give it a try yourself. It is at: http://www.familywatchdog.us/
Bob Zikowitz, Editor and Publisher of the 2nd Signal Service Battalion newsletter had some interesting information regarding women in the Signal Intelligence field during WW-II. Sourced from the National Archives and NSA’s Center for Cryptologic History here is some of what Bob wrote in his latest newsletter.
Unlike many occupations women entered during the war, cryptology was never a traditionally male job. Since the beginning of permanent cipher bureaus following World War I, women civilians had worked in the Army and Navy code rooms. There were other positions in the intelligence field, however, that had always been filled by men, such as the radio intercept operators. Women proved repeatedly that they could do the work as capably as, and sometimes better than, the men they replaced. A WAC staff director, reporting on the WACs in the 2nd Sig. Svc. Bn. said, “It is proven over and over again that women were far better equipped than men for routine but detailed work.
Women in the Army’s 2nd Sig. Svc. Bn. worked as high-speed radio operators, teletype operators, switchboard operators, cryptographic code clerks, cryptanalysts and route clerks.
They intercepted and forwarded coded enemy messages to SIS Headquarters where other WACs, soldiers and civilians worked to break them. Arlington Hall analyzed, decoded, translated, interpreted and distributed these messages. They were also responsible for the security of American communications and had a branch devoted entirely to that endeavor. The 2nd Sig. Svc. Bn. monitored the U. S. Army radio transmissions looking for poor communication practices which would make it easier for the enemy to decrypt U. S. messages.
Bob’s article mentions the cipher bureaus following World War I. A good book on this, as it applies to the U. S. effort, is called The American Black Chamber. It was written by Herbert O. Yardley who is considered as the father of cryptography in the United States. The book is probably out of publication now but may be available through local libraries. It was published in 1931 by the Bobbs-Merrill Company.
TAPS
John Ennis (Herzo 55-57) passed away on January 10, 2008 as reported by Darrell Parish of the Herzo Survivors reunion group.
NEW CONTACTS
Joseph M. Beatty III – Herzo/Augsburg 71-73
Cleveland “Sonny” Bergeron – Frankfurt 56-58
LOST CONTACTS
Supporting member Patrick Ulmen (Scheyern 52-55)
Bill Mielke (Offenback/Rothwesten/Kassel 64-66)
Ed Silverman (Bad Aibling 57-60)