Herbert Osborn Yardley was born on April 13, 1889 in Worthington, Indiana. He learned telegraphy from his father, Robert Kirkbride Yardley, a railroad station master and telegrapher. His mother, Mary Emma Osborn Yardley, passed away when he was 13.
Continue reading “Remembering Herbert Osborn Yardley, an American cryptologist”
This is a recorded of an interview with Captain Wilford J. Holmes, USN Retired, otherwise known as Jasper Holmes. The interviewers are Hank Shorik, NSA Historian and Ray Schmidt, NSG Historian. The date is 13 September 1977.
Many Naval Security Group personnel who served during the Vietnam Era are familiar with PIRAZ station – the Primary Identification Radar Advisory Zone established in the Gulf of Tonkin (GOT) in 1966 to track hostile and friendly air traffic over North Vietnam and the GOT. PIRAZ was continuously manned from its inception until after the cessation of hostilities and the return of the POWs from Hanoi in 1973. Since any ship assigned PIRAZ duties (most were cruisers or DLGs) had a NAVSECGRU detachment, quite a few CTs earned membership in the “Gulf of Tonkin Yacht Club.”
Continue reading “Peacetime Aerial Reconnaissance Program Station (PIRAZ)”
LTJG Norman Elbert Wilkerson
March 30, 1943 – April 15, 1969
Commander Guy Thomas enlisted in the Naval Reserve in Corpus Christi, Texas on 20 July 1965 while attending the University of San Francisco. 18 months later, with only 8 credits needed for graduation, he was called to active duty and assigned as a deck force seaman to the pre-commissioning crew of USS Horne (DLG 30), commanded by CAPT (ADM) Stansfield Turner, being built in San Francisco. During the next year he was able to finish his degree in History and put in for Officer’s Candidate School (OCS), but was turned down. He became the Commanding Officer’s driver who encouraged him to reapply for OCS which he did and was accepted. He was also assigned as the clerk for the Intelligence team and became the acting intelligence officer when both of the other two team members became unavailable. Deployed to Vietnam, he worked closely with the embarked NavSecGru Direct Support (DirSup) team who encouraged him to volunteer for duty with them, which he did.
Continue reading “CDR George “Guy” Thomas, USN (ret.)”
“NOBODY TALKED ABOUT HIM” is a widely shared social media tribute honoring K-9 Ghost, a Belgian Malinois assigned to SEAL Team 6 who served five deployments in Afghanistan.
Continue reading “GHOST”
Station HYPO 