A Day in the Life

Our Radio City, as it was called, was set several miles off from the main facilities of the island because of the secret nature of the mission, so we had to go by bus most of the time to get any place except the Army Air Base. That base was just about a mile walk through the tundra if we did not want to wait for a bus.

Aerial views of Adak
about 1944

We stood watches (duties) in eight-hour shifts, staring at 4 p.m. until midnight. After that shift we would have a snack in the mess hall if we wanted one, usually leftovers from the evening meal, and then we would go to bed. The worst thing about watches was that we had to keep the radio shack from being seen from the air, so the windows were closed and covered and the ventilation was not very good and everyone smoked except me. So the smoke was bad and everyone drank huge amounts of coffee trying to keep awake, especially during the midnight watch.

Picture found on the internet

We would return to the radio shack after a breakfast by 8 a.m. Then at 4 p.m. it was back to the mess hall for the evening meal and to bed or whatever until 11:30 p.m. for a snack and back to the radio shack by midnight. This watch finished the 8 hours on, 8 off, 8 on, 8 off, 8 on and then off from 8 a.m. Monday, for example, for the day and night. Then the next day it was usually some kind of duty such as KP, yard clean up, or road repair. Roughly we worked two days on duty and two days off, except for the second day off with other work. This was also the time to go to the PX, play ball, or work out.

Our schedule on Adak went like this:
Monday
• 8:00 a.m. – report to the Duty Officer’s staff for a 4-hour work assignment. It could be anything from cleaning showers and latrines, to putting in new fence lines, repairing the wooden pathways, filling in potholes in the roads around the base, etc.
• Relieve the day watch in the radio shack immediately after 4 p.m. chow and copy code until relieved between 11:30 p.m. and 12:00 midnight

Tuesday
• Relieve the graveyard shift after a 6:30 a.m. breakfast and work the radio shack until relieved about 4:30 - 5:00 p.m.
• Try to get some sleep or go play basketball until we get a snack at about 10:30 p.m. in the mess hall
• Relieve the crew about 11:30 p.m. and work until about 7:00 – 7:30 a.m. (If you had played basketball in the evening, it was a long shift from midnight to 7:00 a.m.!

Wednesday
• Hit the sack after breakfast, until about noon or sometime till late in the afternoon
• In the evening, play basketball, watch a movie or just relax Thursday
• Free for doing laundry, going to Navy or Air Force for supplies, writing extra letters, reading, etc.
• Often there was a need for an extra work project which we had to do

Friday
• Start all over again! Work Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

We worked two days on and two days off and had 4 shift crews working.

Movie Hall and Beer hall
Adak Radio City

We also liked to go to the PX where we could supplement our food supply and get stamps, stationery, toilet articles, etc. The big attraction for most of the guys was the beer hall, which was right next to the gym and the PX. Many of the guys spent all of their free time over there, staying as long as it was open, unless they had duty. They would stay until their money ran out, then they would borrow whatever they could. If they wanted something stronger than beer, they had to have some connections to get it either from the Officers’ Club or from some black market from the pilots or others who were part of the flight crew. Either way, it cost a lot of money.

We had mail delivery almost every day, except Sunday, and of course we all looked forward to the truck coming in with our mail. I was fortunate for I got many letters from Leona and from Mom, but not too many more than that. Some guys were lucky to get one or two letters a month.