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Hawaii was not yet our fiftieth state in 1957. I had been in the U. S. Air Force a little over two years. I was stationed in Japan and assigned to the 1st AACS Squadron, Mobile. AACS stood for Air and Airway Communication Service; Mobile meant we could set up communications for any air base anywhere in the Far East Command. I received orders to ship out for Joint Task Force Team 7 (JTF7) in Hickham Air Force Base on Oahu , not far from Pearl Harbor, the giant U. S. Navy Base and a short bus ride from Honolulu. The duty was officially TDY (Temporary DutY), and were admonished that the mission was SECRET. We were to set up support communications for the Joint Task Force. "Joint" indicates that more than one branch of United States Armed Forces contributes to an effort. There were three teams from our squadron: ours stationed on Oahu, another stationed on the South Pacific Island of Penrhyn, and the third stationed on Palmyra Island, also in the Pacific, but north of the equator. Only one person lived on Palmyra, a hermit who survived on fish and land crabs. A small group of tribes people inhabited Penrhyn. Each of these outposts had a team of weathermen from Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. In addition, Palmyra had a water technician to augment the sparse water supply with desalinization equipment. We set up our radio transmitters and receivers, as did the teams on the outposts. Our mission was to circulate any messages among our command post and the outposts, or to relay any special traffic from higher headquarters which we might receive through the main Hickham Communications Center. Initially, most of the communications reported results that the weather crews generated. My job was team cryptographer. I enciphered or deciphered any classified traffic. During the mission I witnessed two other very special occasions: a State Visit from the Prime Minister of Japan, and another from the South Korean Head of State. Both dignitaries landed at our base, right in front of our command post. I had an excellent view of both landings. There was an honor guard with contingents from each of the four branches of U. S. Armed Forces. The U. S. Marines fired a 21 gun salute with field artillery on each occasion. President Eisenhower sent his personal plane, named the Columbine, to fly the visitors from Hickham to Washington. The custom of naming the presidential plane "Air Force One" had not yet begun. We slept in a BOQ (Bachelor Officer Quarters) which normally was provided for Commissioned Officers passing through Hickham. We were on call 24 hours a day, but the duty was not really taxing. Our radio operators worked shifts and I usually went to work in the morning and handled anything that needed my attention. I began to notice members of the British Armed Forces from time to time. There are several priorities assigned to U. S. Military communications traffic. The highest is FLASH; the lowest is Deferred. FLASH is used only in a national emergency, in case of an actual or immanent attack, for instance. Fortunately, I never had to handle a FLASH, but I did handle the priority just below it, an EMERGENCY. That EMERGENCY occurred during my temporary duty with JTF7. A few high ranking Air Force Officers visited our teams, especially the one on Palmyra, ostensibly to inspect. Actually, the fishing was excellent there. We thought it remarkable how good fishing increases the inspection requirement! Our orders called for 90 days of TDY; I stayed 101 days. Then I returned to my permanent duty station in Japan. About six months after I left Hickham I, and the other members of the teams, received a packet of letters of thanks for our service there. Selwyn Lloyd, the Foreign Minister of Great Briton had written a letter to Secretary of State John Foster Dulles who attached a forwarding letter and sent it on to the Secretary of Defense. Secretary of Defense attached a forwarding letter and sent it on to Secretary of Air Force and on and on down to my commander and finally to us team members. The packet contains about ten such forwarding letters to Mr. Lloyd’s. I still have my packet. Mr. Lloyd’s letter read: BRITISH FOREIGN OFFICE LONDON July 11, 1957 My dear Foster: Now that we have completed the present series of nuclear tests at Christmas Island, I write to send you sincere thanks, not only on my own behalf but also on behalf of my colleagues in the Cabinet, for all the administrative help the United States Government gave us in connection with the operation. This covered a wide field from which all three Services and the civilians taking part benefited, and contributed notably to the success of the operation. It would be invidious to single out one thing more than another, but I hope that our thanks and appreciation may be made known not only to your colleagues in the Government, but also to the American officials and servicemen who did so much to ease our problems. Yours very sincerely, (signed) Selwyn Lloyd Mr. John Foster Dulles Dave Burke 1st Mob 1955-1958 |
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