“Deee dot da dot dee da.”

Tales of a Radio Man in the Navy: An Interview with William Baer, Sr.

May 21st, 2003: It was dark and dreary and looked as though it would rain most of the day. I rushed from softball practice, jumped into my mother’s car, and off we went to the interview. The interview would take place in the cozy downstairs of my veteran, William Baer’s house. I was freshening up in the car, fearful of being late, and filled with a sense of apprehension! I wondered why I was so nervous to meet with a man I’d known my entire life -- my grandfather! Yet, I couldn’t seem to get rid of my tense feelings.

I walked into his downstairs, apartment-like room; and his friendly face and the cozy atmosphere seemed to calm my nerves. Although still somewhat nervous, I set up the tape recorder and sat in one of his two large recliners patiently waiting for the segment of evening news to end. I sat and observed the surroundings, which I knew well, but still found fascinating: an array of antique furniture and the clutter of odds and ends ranging from crossword dictionaries, a top hat, and picture of his children and grandchildren (myself included).

After catching up with my grandfather and giving him a quick briefing of what I’d like to accomplish, the interview began.

KB- What branch of service were you in? I believe it was the Navy right?

WB- Correct.

KB- All right, and was there any reason you were in that particular branch?

WB- I preferred it to the Army.

KB- Well, I don’t blame you. Is there any connection between that and your interest in boats now?

WB- Well, I grew up on the water; but basically as far as I was concerned, the Navy was a cleaner operation. You didn’t have to go into foxholes and trenches, eat food out of a can in the Navy.

KB- I’ll probably have to stop you a few times. Fox holes, what were they?

WB- Oh, the army had to dig fox holes to hide in if they were under bombing, and they sleep in holes in the ground and stuff. At least in the Navy, you had a bunk or a hammock to sleep in and you had three meals a day prepared for you.

KB- I don’t blame you. I just wanted to make sure. So basically, they were just like trenches.

WB- Umm hmm.

KB- All right, what was your rank?

WB- Radio man 1st class.

KB- So I’m assuming your job was to operate radios. What exactly were you doing? What kinda jobs were you responsible for?

WB- Well, you had to maintain communication with all the other ships in the fleet. At naval operations, we received some areas, you received it was all in code. But it was in plain language. Some of it, the rest of it, if it was sensitive, was put into code; and we had to use a machine to decode it, take down the message, and transmit answers if we had to. We were keeping communication with other ships around.

KB- So how long were you doing this? Constantly during the day or...?

WB- Well, we had four hours on, eight hours off. All the time that we were on, we had to monitor the radios and take any messages addressed to us and also to our group. Also out of Washington in those days. Don’t know if it still is or not, but they had what they called a fox watch; and this was information and stuff going out twenty-four hours a day. So if you weren’t doing anything else, you could hook into that and transmit whatever information was coming over that. But if nothing was doing, you could turn on a ball game put it on the loud speaker or listen to some music or something, so the rest of the crew could enjoy it.

KB- So, was that common or more kind of like a special treat?

WB- Well, we were a small ship; but we were very informal, so if we weren’t busy particularly in port we’d monitor the radios for any messages or communications directed at us. But other than that, we pretty much did what we pleased.

KB- All right, just going back a step…Operating radios and using machines to decode and things... what kind of training did you have to undergo?

WB- Well, the navy trained me. After we finished basic training, I was sent to radio school for four months. To learn how to understand the code, the Morse code, and how to receive it and how to operate your radios and how to type and so forth. Cause we were receiving as fast as everything else. We would sit at a typewriter and type it as we received it, so it’s all done just roll it out and that was it, unless it had to be decoded.

KB- So, umm, was the training pretty easy or was it kind of difficult to understand?

WB- Well, starting off [laughing] nobody knew Morse code. You had to learn it from the beginning, which is a series of dots and dashes and you had to learn to take it. In order to pass the course, you had to be able to take a minimum of thirty words per minute, correct. So that for each error … for each error, one point was deducted. In order to get thirty words correct, if you had five errors, you had to have taken down thirty-five words. You had to be able to send, I

Don’t know, 18-19-20 words per minute with your key. The little... I don’t know... have you seen…?

KB- Is it kind of like a telegraph key?

WB- Yeah, like a telegraph key.

WB- “Deee dot da dot dee da.” And when you first started your training, it just sounds like a lot of noise, but it’s repeated and rote. Eventually, it just comes to you. All of a sudden, one day, it no longer is just noise, it’s---

KB- You kind of get used to it?

WB- Yup it’s letters and numbers.

KB- So, starting your training, where exactly were you? Did you have to go far from home?

WB- Well, the basic training was in Sampson, New York along the Great Lakes. But the radio school was in Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania. It was a resort hotel that the Navy had taken over. We lived there and took all our courses there.