Introduction
"My name is Hall Derkin. I served from 1942 through 1946 as a member of the United States Army Air Corps. My primary duty, as a captain, was as a cryptographic security officer. This meant that I was charged with the responsibility of the enciphering and deciphering of messages for military purposes."Were you in Combat?
"As cryptographic personnel, we were charged under Army regulation 380-5, with the securing of the cryptographic devices of the United States military services. The main object of our military activity was as a non-combatant. The military is divided roughly into two general classifications: those who are in active combat and those who are in the non-combatant branches of the service. My function was as a non-combatant, even though we had all been completely trained for combat service if that was required of us."What was the most exciting message you recieved?
"One of the more exciting messages that had been my responsibility to decipher, was one which had been received from two men which had been separated from their unit, while they were doing duty on the D.E.W. (that is Distant Early Warning line in northern Canada). The weather was poor, so the message was "garbled" which meant that there had to be a lot on intensive work done to restore the missing parts so that an intelligent message could be developed from the parts that had been received. Eventually we were able to do that and discovered that they were in need of food, that they were in need of heavy clothing! Because we were able to determine what their needs were and where they were located, we were able to dispatch the necessary aid to them and provide for their safety."Codes & Ciphers
"There is a general misunderstanding regarding codes and ciphers. Code is a system whereby one word or several words can be translated by use of a code book; which is much like a dictionary, giving first the word and then the meaning of that word. For example: The word "squirrel" might mean in code, "advance to a certain position", or "attack at a certain time." The word "gopher" might mean retreat from a position. [It] was absolutely necessary, you see, for both the sender and the receiver to have the same book! And in order to cover all the requirements military necessity, that book would be quite voluminous in nature. And so, it was necessary for the army to develop some other technique for the communicating of messages as well as their security in transmission, instead of the utilization of the book. This was a code. The next step was the use of ciphering. So actually we were not encoding messages, we were enciphering and deciphering messages. The difference being that either by mechanical or electromechanical means in a cipher, letter for letter transposition is accomplished and then the text is broken down from the clear message, which the sender writes, to a group of non-intelligible five letter groups. Which are then transmitted one letter at a time and since the receiver has the same facility, and the same direction and the same key words, he [the sender] can then encipher it by any one of a commonly held system.""The ribbons which are pictured here are those which are issued in place of the medals which they represent. These are worn as they are shown here over the left breast pocket of the uniform. And are in place of the medals which will be sent later after they are 'struck'.
• The upper left hand is red and white. The three bars representing three years of military non-commission service. Most of the men who were later commissioned are quite proud of this particular recognition.
• The next ribbon to the right is a non-authorized medal issued by the government of China and called the Order of the Flying Cloud. It was issued by the Chinese government in appreciation of the work of those who operated in the China-Burma-India theater; and were instrumental in defending that part of China against the Japanese Imperial government.
• In the lower bank of ribbons, the one on the left is that which commemorates [that] the wearer had been in the American theater of operations.
• The middle ribbon is issued to those of us who served in the Asiatic theater, whether in the Pacific theater or the China-Burma-India theater.
• The medal on the far right is the victory medal, which was issued to all members of the military personnel who were still on duty at the time that victory was accomplished over both the Nazi forces as well as the forces of the Imperial Army of Japan.""What is shown here is the commissioned officer's insignia. This particular, insignia was worn on the dress cap while on military duty."
"This is the informal, or over seas cap. The braid is gold and black indicating that the wearer is a commissioned officer. The insignia on the lower left, the two silver bars, indicates the rank of captain."
These patches, which are very colorful, were worn on the outside of the uniform, usually on the back, during time when the wearer was on military duty in the China-Burma-India theater. The left hand insignia shows the American flag, in the upper left hand corner, to the right of that is the flag of free china, below that on the left is the insignia of the China-Burma-India theater, indicating where the wearer was stationed. The Chinese writing is there to indicate that the wearer of these patches is a friend to the nation of free China and is to be treated as a friend and not as an enemy.
The insignia to the right is worn on the left pocket of the battle jacket and is the unit insignia. This particular insignia is that of the Army Airways Commination System; shows an airplane circling the globe, with the red tape with the Morris code A.A.C.S., which stands for Army Airways Communication System.""This particular photograph was taken the day I received my promotion from 2nd lieutenant to 1st lieutenant. As it happened I was hospitalized at Sulfur's field in Mount Clements Michigan at the time of that promotion."
"What we see here is what is known as a "short snorter". When you start foreign military service, you start with a paper dollar bill and then you attach to it, paper money from each of the countries in which you were stationed. The idea behind the short snorter is, as you would attend a restaurant or a bar, following your service, and you were challenged by someone who was standing along side you as to whether or not you were a "short snorter", it would be incumbent upon you to pull out your short snorter to prove that you are. If, however, you did not have your short snorter with you, or you were not a member of the short snorter's club, then it would be incumbent upon you to supply the necessary drink for the one who had challenged you."
"What we're looking at here is the blouse worn for dress occasions in the military. The insignia on it were embroidered in Calcutta in gold thread. On the lapels are US insignia and the Air Force insignia. Over the left pocket are the decorations previously described. On the right sleeve is the Meritorious Unit citation which was given to the 4th A.A.C.S. wing of which I was a member. On the left shoulder is the Air Force insignia and on the right shoulder, which is not quite visible, is the China-Burma-India theater insignia. "
