As a student in a Washington, D.C. high school I was very active in the Cadet Corps. In my last year in HS I was the Regimental Sergeant Major. (The inter high competitions were as popular as athletics today.) I was also a member of the Star Trophy Rifle Team. We fired for record within the city using NRA targets and regulations. A retired Army officer was our coach. I also learned the morse code as a Boy Scout and had tried to build radio equipment. After graduation from Coolidge HS in February of 1942, I enrolled in The George Washington University and the Columbia Technical Institute where I took a course in Code and Communication as preparation for the Ham license exam. I also worked as the night telephone operator in the US Treasury Department building. The hours were 11pm to 7am which gave me time for studying.

Basic training at Camp Sea Girt was fun. I was asked to help train other privates how to march and close order drill. Then I was sent to Fort Monmouth, NJ for further training as a fixed station radio operator. (I knew the code at slow speeds in clear text, but could not type it, especially in 5 letter code-groups.) I was told that I might be taught the Kana Code in preparation for an assignment as an intercept operator in the Pacific Theater.

During this training period I was interviewed by an officer who asked, "Which do you like best: to hear code or see it? Having only seen a little code I, of course, answered, "I'd rather hear it." Soon after, I was told that I was a member of a "very secret Submarine Cable Team." I would learn to read and send code via cable. The code would be a visual display: dots above the midline, dashes below. Lts. Amiel Meihoff and Ludwig Nobauer in the 3104th were in charge. During additional training we paired off and got to know one member as a buddy, a special friend. For the months in NJ and in England my buddy was Bill Wakeman. I'd love to learn where he is and how he's doing. Another close friend was Jim Sharp. I'd love to hear from him too. I have spoken to Vic Laws, another member of the team. He is a retired judge in the Eastern Shore of Maryland. My son, Tom, a lawyer, tried a case before him some years ago.

I had a couple of interesting experiences in England. One day, the word went out that there was a need for someone who knew how to operate a telephone multiple switchboard. As I had worked on one at the Treasury Department, I volunteered and was promptly taken to London to spend some time in the underground War Rooms, the Churchill bunker. (I don't think it was called that then.)

Another interesting volunteer experience was a request for carpenters to travel to Southern England to convert residents' garages into homes for hundreds of pigeons. (In preparation for the invasion, the British Army had requested racing pigeon owners to donate their birds.) When we arrived at the train depot, a large number of birds, many sick or dead, were in cages where they could not be watered or fed. (Some of the healthy birds were taken with us at the landing at Omaha Beach.)

Our team moved quickly, from Omaha Beach to St. Mere Eglise, Paris, Rennes, Dijon, and Nancy. We operated radio stations. We did not see any cable equipment. While in France I bought a silver plated trumpet and played it when team members permitted. After the Germans capitulated, I even played some bugle calls when we were in a camp outside of Arles, before leaving France for the Philippines. The Captain of our ship, the Henry Gibbins, had a flair for the dramatic. Several days beyond Gibraltar he announced, "All hands report to the deck." He then directed our attention to the prow as it slowly turned from SW to NW. He then announced that our new destination was Boston. Inasmuch as there was food and drink for a longer trip, he urged us to help ourselves. (Sadly, my silver trumpet went on to the Philippines. I can only hope that some other would-be musician enjoys playing it as much as I did.)

After discharge, I rushed through AA and BA degrees at the George Washsington University, then on to the University of Wisconsin in Madison for Master of Science and PhD degrees. I also took a Post Doc with help from the Danforth Foundation and the Public Health Service. While I was still in grad school, Kitty, a GW grad, and I were married in 1950. (We celebrated our 54th year together in January of 2004.)

I was a professor at three state universities, worked at the old VA Hospital in Washington, DC, and then in 1964 joined the National Institutes of Health as a Health Scientist Administrator. I retired from NIH in 1994 as the Deputy Director of the Center for Research for Mothers and Children. After a short vacation, I accepted a position as the Director of Science and Research in the home office of a large professional Society. My job was to set up a new program, hire and train a cadre, and then bow out with grace. With much help from colleagues, friends, and editors, I've written 13 books and about 100 peer reviewed scientific journal articles.

For thirty years Kitty was a teacher in our county's Home Instruction Program. She taught children from K through 12 who, because of physical or mental problems, could not be taught in the regular classroom. Kitty and I moved into a retirement community north of Washington, DC, called Leisure World. For 8 years I was the Vice President of a condo (Mutual 10), a group of 158 homes. For nine years I have also been and continue to be the Chairman of the Leisure World's Health Committee. Our mission is to do what we can to keep this group of over 8,000 residents healthy. Although we are all over 55 years of age, most of us stay very busy and remarkably happy.

Kitty and I have been and continue to be active in the work of the Episcopal Center for Children where currently 63 emotionally troubled children receive therapy and education. We are also active in our local church's programs. We have two children, a son, Tom and daughter, Kathy. Tom, a lawyer, works in Bethesda, MD. He and his wife Cheryl, the Vice President of a financial firm, have two sons. The oldest, Sean, a sophomore at the Florida Institute of Technology, is preparing to become an Aerospace Engineer. His brother, Ryan, is in middle school, plays the flute in the school orchestra and is an acolyte (altar boy) in his church.

Kathy, (a retired teacher with a Masters Degree) and her husband, Bruce, (a State Department official and church organist) have two daughters. Christy is a junior at the University of Maryland and is an English Major in the Scholars' Program. Her sister, Caroline, is a high school sophomore. She's a good student but she loves to dance (ballet), sing, and act. She's in the Spring show; she wants to be "famous".