Oral history interview with Kenneth J. Pattow [sound recording], 2001.

ArchivalResource

Pattow, Kenneth J., 1918-2009,. Oral history interview with Kenneth J. Pattow [sound recording], 2001.

Oral history interview with Kenneth J. Pattow [sound recording], 2001.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/84902528

Kenneth Pattow, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin native, discusses his World War II service as a code analyst in the 129th Radio Intelligence Unit in England, France, and Germany. Pattow mentions his work before the war and attending a lecture about Japan on the day of the Pearl Harbor attack. He speaks of work as a civilian inspector with the United States Ordnance Department before being drafted into the Army at Camp Grant. He talks about basic training and armor school at Aberdeen Proving Grounds (Maryland), recruitment to the Signal Corps due to experience with German language, and attending school for cryptanalytic technicians and traffic analysts at Vint Hill Farms Station (Virginia) where he learned codes and received top secret clearance. Pattow lists his Army classification codes, 6709 and 808. He mentions attending the intelligence school on Weymouth Street (London, England) and becoming part of the 129th Signal Radio Intelligence Company. He details their duties intercepting German radio communications, the different levels of code security, range of operation, and sending the "Seminole Report" to headquarters every day using a SIGADA machine. Pattow talks about staying in Dartford (Kent, England), moving around in trucks after crossing the English Channel, attaching to the American 7th Army in France, and following them to the Vosges Mountains. Pattow discusses the other groups in his company: direction finding units who triangulated message origins, radio operators, and support people like cooks and wire runners. He claims the company's biggest achievement was decoding a secret message containing line-of-battle plans for the 10th S. S. Panzer Division at Battle of the Bulge. Pattow reflects on having a bad captain who blamed him for getting the company drunk and who was frustrated at not being able to get into the company's work due to lack of top secret clearance. He explains the code he had with his parents so he could let them know where he was in letters. Pattow details his attendance for a term at St. Andrews University (Scotland) after the war and talks about using the GI Bill for night school, getting married, and becoming a personnel director and consultant.

Sound recording : 1 sound cassette (ca. 45 min.) ; analog, 1 7/8 ips.Videorecording : 1 videocassette (ca. 60 min.) ; sd., col. ; 1/2 in.Master sound recording : 1 sound cassette (ca. 60 min.) ; analog, 1 7/8 ips.Transcript : 26 p.

Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center