On The Roof Gang
@Lelsewhere Lelsewhere He was a member of the “On The Roof Gang.” This was a group Navy and Marine radio operators that were trained to intercept IJN radio messages. They were trained to intercept and copy Japanese katakana the CW. The first group went through the training on the roof of Navy Department in Washington was in 1928. A small classroom had been constructed “on the roof” because of the lack of space in the office space. My uncle attended the school during the Spring and Summer of 1939. Katakana code was not decrypted by the operators. Their copy was provided to the “Cryptologist” to decrypt. However, as they carried out their duties, they were able to gather signals intelligence that did not require decryption. The operators were stationed in a variety of locations around the pacific that gave them the best opportunities to intercept these radio messages. Special typewriters were built specifically for these operators to transcribe these messages as they were received. Early on during the war Naval senior leadership found out that these specialist were valuable to be onboard and separate from the regular communications crew on the flagships during battles. They could provide immediate signals intelligence to the Naval command during the engagement. The group on Guam was captured, however their captures never learned of their role on the island. A detachment was placed on Guadalcanal immediately after the Marine invasion. The group in Hawaii intercepted the famous message regarding the decoy message about the water supply on Midway. The group on Corregidor were taken out by submarine. My uncle was on the second of three submarine trips. The Corregidor group were all taken to Australia and continued their duties there. My uncle received recognition for his service in mainland China. He was a RM2 when he went to school and retired as a CWO4 in the 1960’s. The group is recognized as the founders of Navy Cryptology.
Two volumes were recently published about the OTRG. “The U.S. Navy’s On-The-Roof-Gang” by Matt Zullo. Volume 1 covers the pre-war period and the second volume is about the war in the Pacific.