A radioman's code
Story and photos by Seaman Sabrina Elgammal
First District Public Affairs
Louis Bakula sat in his room wearing large earphones. He turned the dials on his radio hoping to get a signal from a foreign
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| SOUTH PARIS, Maine- Louis Bakula, 98, lives at the South Paris veteran's home where his daughter Carole, frequesntly visits and reminisces about her father being a radioman in the military nearly 60 years ago. |
Bakula isn't a secret agent trying to decipher codes and doesn't have a way to respond to the codes he picks up. At 98 years old, he simply enjoys the fact that after nearly 60 years of being out of the military as a radioman, he still understands Morse code.
"I knew from the very first time I heard the beeps and tones of the radio, this was the job for me," he said. "Though I don't wear a uniform anymore, I am still a radioman."
Bakula quickly discovered his love for radios when he joined the Naval Reserves in 1930. In 1935, he left the Naval Reserves to join the United States Coast Guard, where he was accepted into the Coast Guard Radio School in New London, Conn.
After he graduated, he reported aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Algonquin in Woods Hole, Mass., as a third class petty officer.
"I learned a lot and have some of the finest memories from my first unit," he said. "One of them was when I answered my first SOS signal."
As a young radioman, Bakula recalls being in charge of directing priority information on the ship and having to control all operations.
"I will never forget how nervous I was, but at the same time I was so proud of myself," he said.
After a tour on the Algonquin, Bakula served aboard the Coast Guard cutters Mojave, Chelan, and the General Greene, all in Massachusetts.
Aboard the General Greene, Bakula took part in his first North Atlantic international ice patrol. Their mission was to chart the movement of icebergs in the North Atlantic.
"This was the ‘30s, and we didn't have radar," he said. "The ship crept through the fog and we would wait until we could feel the
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SOUTH PARIS, Maine- Louis Bakula, 98, holds a photo of himself after graduation from radioman school. He left the military nearly 60 years ago, but still understands Morse code. |
That meant an iceberg was nearby and they would continue slowly until they were close enough to see it. Bakula relayed the iceberg's position over the radio in Morse code to other ships.
During the same patrol, Bakula was standing a radio watch listening for codes. He recalls not hearing a single tone on the radio, when all of a sudden the famed German Airship Hindenburg began sending the message "CQ," which means "calling any ship." He responded to the call through Morse code. The airship crew then requested weather conditions and location, which Bakula gave them.
"I believe the Hindenburg was somewhere in our vicinity since the shortest route to Europe is over Newfoundland, and then down the coast," he said.
The next day while listening to the radio broadcast codes, Bakula heard a report stating the Hindenburg had burst into flames and crashed at the U.S. Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, N.J., while attempting to land.
"I felt a knot instantly in my stomach and realized I had to be one of the last radioman to talk to them," he said.
After serving in the Coast Guard, Bakula transitioned to civilian life and got a job as a sheet metal handler at the Boston Navy Yard. It was there that he met his wife and had three children.
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| SOUTH PARIS, Maine- Louis Bakula, 98, sits in his home at the South Paris veteran's home where he picks up Morse code signals from foreign countries. |
"I had three small mouths to feed and a wife to take care of," said Bakula. "With the war going on, you didn't know when your next pay check was going to come."
Bakula re-enlisted in the Naval Reserves and resumed his role as a radioman. Soon after, he was ordered to deploy for the Korean War where he served aboard the USS Rochester in Japan.
After almost six months at war, Bakula came home to his family where he finished his enlistment in the Naval Reserves.
Now, half a century later, he lives in the South Paris Maine veteran's home where his daughter, Carole, frequently visits during the week.
When Carole visits, she often brings old photo albums and listens while her father reminisces about his adventures as a radioman.
"I remember growing up hearing all of his sea stories and how much my dad loved being a sailor," said Carole. "I just never thought he would be 98 years old and still call himself a radioman."
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