Return to Washington D.C.
"One morning I came to work and there, on the railroad track beside our building, were these huge things on these flatcars." Ronnie Hulick remembers. "But I couldn't tell what it was because it was covered with a grey shroud. And when I went on duty, that's when I was told we were going back to Washington, D. C."
Some of the Waves began returning to Washington in October, 1943.
Once there the Waves noticed that the Naval Communications Station had greatly expanded. It had taken over the grounds of Mount Vernon Seminary, a former private girls school, located at 3801 Nebraska Avenue. This school was known as the station's Annex. A large Naval barracks was built across the street at Nebraska and Massachusetts Avenues. This housed most of the 2500 Waves who worked at the Annex.
Ronnie remembers her first day in Washington. "They took us to the chapel and this Navy officer got up to talk to us. And I thought we were going to have a little service, a little prayer. Instead he proceeded to tell us that the work we would be doing there was top secret. 'You will not discuss it, talk about it with anyone.' You couldn't even talk to one another in the barracks about it. And he said 'And don't think that because you're women you'll get special privileges. If you talk about what goes on here, you'll be shot.' I remember how shocked and stunned I was. He got our attention."
"Not only that, we were warned about being kidnapped when we were off on our own." says Vivian Kurtz Kintner. "We were told that it was a very real possibility."
Security was much tighter in Washington. "In order to get onto the base we had two things hanging on a chain around our neck." says Ronnie Hulick. "One was our picture with a number on it, and the other was a plain card with our number with a C or a letter to show that was the building (they were allowed in). You had to go through the gate and pass this Marine standing there with a gun, and show him these two cards. Then you'd walk about six feet and you had to show them again to another Marine, and when you got to your building you couldn't get into the building until you showed them to a Navy man on duty."
Each Wave was taken to a room that held several bombe machines. Each bombe was approximately six feet tall, ten feet wide and three feet deep. The front of the machines was covered with dials and rotors. The Waves recognized the rotors as those they had assembled in Dayton.
"I remember the awful swing shifts and soldering all those colored wires onto the rotor wheels." says Ronnie. "I had always thought I had not passed the aptitude test and was regulated to this silly job. It took on more meaning when we went back to Washington D.C. and began to run the bombes. I was surrounded by so many bright young women working on the project. I think we were hand-picked and I like to say 'the cream of the crop'".
The Waves again worked in three shifts around the clock. "We worked in ungodly hot buildings with those machines." says Beatrice Dunphy "The heat was tremendous, with no air conditioning and cement floors. Salt dispensers were near the water fountains. And the noise was terrific with all those machines in the building."
Here the Waves were taught how to run the bombes, or the 'Grey Elephants', as they were sometimes called. They would be given a chart that told them how to set the switches and rotors on the bombe.
"We'd set 36 switches, and then we'd put on these rotor wheels and set them." says Ronnie Hulick. "When all 36 switches were set and the 36 wheels were set, then we'd push a button. Then we would sit there and wait until we had what we called a strike."
When they would get a strike the machine would print out a piece of paper. The paper would be taken down the hall and handed to a decoder. Cryptanalysts would use the information to decipher intercepted messages. The Cryptanalysts ran the code through a replicated Enigma machine, transfer the German or Japanese text to English, and pass the message on to Naval Intelligence.
Although dull work, the efficiency of the machines relied on the accuracy on the person who set the dials, so only highly efficient women were chosen to run the bombes. It wasn’t until years later that most of the women would come to realize just exactly how important their work was.
The Barracks
Meanwhile, at Sugar Camp, the weather was beginning to change. "It was late into the fall and it was really cold." says Vivian Kintner. "I can remember the shower was between the two rooms. Everybody running that shower hot and taking hot baths. Then fast, get into your pajamas and in under the covers while you still had the heat."
Unfortunately, the cabins were not insulated, nor was there any glass in the windows so the smaller contingent of Waves were moved to the refurbished recreation hall.
"We all had double bunks, forty to a side." states Evelyn Einfeldt. The bunks included spring mattresses. They put lockers in the middle. And then, the first of May we went back to the cabins. We lived in the barracks for two years."
On June 12th, 1945 an electrical fire broke out in the barracks. Fortunately, the Waves had moved back to the cabins a few weeks before. The only thing left behind was the piano that NCR had given to the Waves for Christmas in 1943. The piano was completely destroyed.
"Then, of course, V-J day came." says Evelyn Einfeldt. "Cash (NCR) wants their property back. But the Navy didn't want to move out because we were still involved in building the machines."
By the summer of 1945 only 80 Waves were left in Dayton. Captain Meader asked for volunteers to stay another year.
"Meader said those that would volunteer, if they would pass the next rank test, he would see that we'd get a raise in rating." says Evelyn Einfeldt. About 30 of the Waves decided to stay. Sugar Camp was closed and a place had to be found for the Waves that stayed behind.
Return to "Keeping the Secret" Home Page
