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Air Force messaging in the ‘50s
By Jay G Tressler, Major, USAF Ret During WWII, many “government girls” were
working in various locations in the DC area, and
It was hot under the canvas tents erected outside
many were housed in three two-story residence halls
existing barracks at Lackland AFB, TX, in August erected south of the Arlington Cemetery, an Air Force
1950. The Korean War had begun on 6/27/50, I had area that became known as South Area, Fort Myer,
enlisted in the Air Force on 8/1/50, and along with but still had an address of Arlington Farms. North
many other recruits, was assigned to the base to Area is and has always been a major Army
complete basic training and then would anticipate installation. I was billeted in a room in one of these
going on later to attend a technical school.
halls with another Private and it wasn’t long before
We were privates, the AF still using the Army we had to share that room with two more airmen, as
ranking system and issuing brown uniforms, steel bunk beds, replacing the wood-frame beds the
although using AF insignia. After a few days, it girls had used, were hauled into the halls by the
became apparent that even with the tents, Lackland hundreds. So, at various times certain wings off the
had exceeded its capacity to adequately house the main corridors in the residence halls would be
trainees, so Sheppard AFB at Wichita Falls, TX, was completely occupied by either men or women. The
reopened and many of us finished our basic training women, of course, were Women in the AF (WAF), who
there. Then, because I had taken a typing class in were rapidly replacing men at that installation. South
high school, I was selected for communications center Area is no longer under AF control, and I believe has
(teletype) training at F.E. Warren AFB, WY and reverted to cemetery control for later expansion.
graduated from there just before Christmas. Getting to work involved either walking the less
th
Orders after graduation sent me to the 1908 AACS than a mile to the Pentagon during good weather or
Sq, whose address was listed as Arlington Farms, VA, taking an AF bus.
for duty in the HQ USAF Communications Center, in Duty included working alternate shifts; wartime
the basement of the Pentagon. (Within a few weeks combat messages were received at all times so there
we were redesignated the 1061 USAF Comm Sq and were no slack periods. Often the operators had to use
st
soon after that we reverted to AACS as the 2044 th their ingenuity to make sense out of semi-garbled
AACS Sq.) The center consisted of a large torn-tape messages that had been received over a route that
(separate tape for each message) teletype relay center
included radio-teletype transmission, patching up
(JEP), an adjoining tributary for Pentagon terminal those messages using off-line systems or requesting
traffic (JEPHQ) and a room devoted to direct online reruns from the originator, before sending them
teletype terminals to locations such as Elmendorf upstairs to the Staff Message Division (SMD) for
AFB, Alaska, which terminals had capability to send further dissemination to the message addressees.
encrypted messages. I believe we were issued blue One day, after I had been promoted to Sergeant, I
uniforms sometime in 1951.
was informed that, effective immediately, I was to be
known as an Airman First Class; that, in my opinion,
was the final separation from Army influence.
Contd on next page
TSgt Tressler reading a message on
teletype tape, Goose Bay AB, Training session, USAF Comm Center, Pentagon, Dec
Labrador, 1955. 1955.
22 November 2024 Communicator
