Personnel

Personnel and their associates personnel

Find my introduction below this Index

In This Section

The Personnel section of the site has been the most enjoyable for me to assemble. Thanks to growing interest in the story of Dayton’s role in code-breaking, and the power of the Google Search Engine as people look for information about their family members, I’m receiving more and more information about veterans of the project.

Available in this section:

The Database

The Personnel database is an effort to make accessible a list of names of personnel gathered from many sources. The sources of information include the Rosters of personnel printed by NCR for 4th of July dinners in 1943 and 1944, the NCR News, letters and memorabilia from the 1995 and 2001 Reunions, oral histories taken during the 2001 Reunion and various archival documents. Because so many records were destroyed at the end of the war (and even 35 years later) to preserve secrecy, the list will never be complete. In addition, human error creeps in from time to time, with misspellings, fuzzy images, and incorrect dates. Despite those drawbacks, the database now includes over 500 individuals with 956 pieces of information.

Please note: because so many women know each other when they were single, I prefer to list women by their maiden name whenever possible.

If you, or a relative, neighbor or older friend, have some information or a story to share, please contact Debbie Anderson so that I can enter it into my records. Also, if you have questions, please contact me and I’ll try to find some information that might help you. There are no guarantees, however, as so many records have disappeared, been destroyed, or are available only at the National Archives.

387 NCR Identification badges from Bldg. 26, 1942 through 1945, are now online. These have been scanned, uploaded and linked to names in the database. Of those found so far, most are from the group of WAVES who arrived late April- early May 1943. Recently the sailors arriving Feb-Mar 1943 have been found. Scattered among these are visitors including Joseph Eachus and Howard Engstrom. Again, note: This growing effort is managed by Debbie Anderson, and is vulnerable to human error. Your help is appreciated. Please inform me of any broken links or other errors.

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  • You Are Here

    Personnel > Home

  • Sources

    This site has material from many sources. Some are use by permission. Before using, ASK. More specific information here.

  • Inside You’ll Find…

    WHO worked during the war? Find the Personnel section. Also, Joseph R. Desch
    WHAT were their goals? By the Numbers. Also, The US Bombe
    WHY? History of the Bombe Project A contemporary account of the reasons and the plans for their project for the Director of Naval Communications, 1944.
    WHERE was the project: In Dayton, it was in Building 26. In Washington, it was housed at the Naval Communications Annex

    • Recent Updates

    • Stray Thoughts in the Information Age

      General George S. Patton, the legendary commander of World War II, became an astute consumer of communications intelligence (COMINT); he learned its worth in the drive across Western Europe after D-Day and used it well. For example, in mid-August 1944, while Patton’s Third Army was located near the French city of Le Mans, the general and about 40 of his officers attended daily intelligence briefings. Here they would hear regular briefings by the G-2 (Intelligence) and G-3 (Operations), situation reports, and a news report from radio broadcasts. Following each meeting, all but seven officers were dismissed, and the rest stayed for a briefing on the enemy situation as seen in COMINT. This source proved valuable for the Third Army: ULTRA (the codeword assigned to COMINT derived from decryption of high-level German ciphers) material alone predicted a drive by five German Panzer divisions against the Third Army at Avaranches. In another instance, when Third Army headquarters moved near Chalons, an ULTRA message arrived at 0100 hours showing the German order for an attack at 0300. Patton had described the U.S. troops in the attack areas as spread out as “thin as the skin on an egg.” He found means to alert the defending divisions without jeopardizing the security of ULTRA, and the German attack was repulsed.

      One member of Patton’s staff wrote about the value of ULTRA to Patton’s army stating that, “An army has never moved as fast and as far as the Third Army in its drive across France, and ULTRA was invaluable every mile of the way.”

      NSA, Center for Cryptologic History, from 50th Anniversary Brochure, p. 10. URL frequently change but currently this can be found at nsa.gov > History > Cryptologic History > Publications > NSA/CSS. /p>

    This page last updated Last updated: September 7, 2021 at 9:29 am

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