Korean War Legacy Project

Robert F. Towns

Bio

Robert Franklin Towns was born on November 24, 1930 in the small town of Mt. Morris, Illinois. His family moved to Neenah, Wisconsin and there he lived until he enlisted in the Air Force in December of 1950. He spent two years in San Antonio, Texas as a radio operator, learning Morse code as his job was to intercept Russian communication and transmission. He never went to Korea, but his job was very important as he worked in this top secret security post in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Video Clips

Fairbanks, Alaska

Bob Towns describes his posting in Alaska. His job was part of the early warning network watching the Soviet Union. He helped intercept Soviet morse code transmissions. His work was top secret and passed on to cryptographers who would work on breaking the code.

Tags: Communists

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Family Reunited

Bob Towns remembers an exciting story of uniting a husband and wife on the phone. The wife was in Fairbanks, Alaska at the hospital getting ready to give birth and the husband was serving in Okinawa, Japan. With his job as a radio operator, he was able to reunite families in this manner and it always warmed his heart to do so.

Tags: Home front,Pride

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