Childhood and education in Easton, Pa.; family’s experience in the Great Depression; father’s service in U.S. Navy in World War I; decision to go to work while still attending school at age of thirteen; work with Lehigh Valley Railroad; memories of Pearl Harbor attack; family’s move to New York City; service as civilian air raid warden; drafted into U.S. Army in 1942; courtship with now-wife, Evelyne; basic training at Ft. Dix, N.J.; assignment to cryptography training program in Pawling, N.Y.; assignment to Albrook Field, Panama; assignments throughout Central and South America, which mainly involved intercepting communications of Nazis and Nazi sympathizers; help provided by network of Catholic priests; breaking German code; feelings regarding war’s end; return to New York City; civilian career in manufacturing.