Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
8:35 | Jack Toole finally learned the destination of his Pacific journey, it was Guam. His job was to operate a radio listening post and intercept coded messages. First Problem? They need the high ground where the enemy fled.
Keywords : Jack Toole Intelligence Morse Code USS Cape Johnson Guam
Moving from from high school to Navy radio school, that is where 17 year old Jack Toole found himself. Then on to Military Intelligence at Cheltenham where he was trained to record enemy Morse code communications.
Naval Intelligence Corpsman Jack Toole trained with Marines while at Pearl Harbor, then shipped out on the USS Cape Johnson in the largest convoy of the war, all steaming toward the enemy.
With only a few enemy stragglers on Guam, Intelligence Corpsman Jack Toole could concentrate on the task at hand. One radio intercept led to the targeting of an enemy admiral. And there was a tense moment when Jack was sure he heard a grenade land.
From his outpost on Guam, Jack Toole could watch bombers return from long missions, the damaged ones leading the way with special lights. Then, thankfully, the war ended and the dreaded invasion of the Japanese homeland was averted.
