A story of dots and dashes: Navy radioman's story began with Morse code

(Sentinel photo by Magdalene Landegent) Tom Leaverton, of Le Mars, served as a radioman for about 10 years with the U.S. Navy, starting in 1951. Now he's writing a story about his experiences. He isn't writing in Morse code, although he still knows all the dots and dashes. [Click to enlarge]

When he gave the boys each a telegraph key, Leaverton and his buddy strung a wire down the one-block alley between their houses in Sioux City and tried their hand at Morse code.

"It would take us 10 minutes to send one word, then we'd get on the telephone to make sure we had the work right," he laughed.

(Photo Contributed) Tom Leaverton types messages received in Morse Code aboard his ship. [Click to enlarge]

From there, the Le Mars man's story spun into the world of telegraphy and radio, serving for about a decade with the U.S. Navy as a radioman aboard ships.

Now Leaverton doesn't want that story to end with him.

He's writing his story down to preserve it for future generations.

(Sentinel photo by Magdalene Landegent) Tom Leaverton served for five years aboard the U.S.S. George Clymer, making several runs between the U.S. and Japan. Leaverton worked in the radio shacks aboard the ship, sending and receiving Morse code messages. [Click to enlarge]

"I thought maybe when my grandkids got older they might like to hear about what I did," Leaverton explained. "I know I would have like to hear about what my grandparents did. Back then they didn't even take that many pictures."

He's held on to plenty of black and whites from his times in the Navy and has even a bigger stash of memories.

After graduating from high school in Sioux City in 1951, Leaverton worked for a few months, then made up his mind to join the service.

He was going to sign up for the Army like his uncle, but a recruiter convinced him to join the Navy with the promise that Leaverton could go to radio school.

"I'd always wanted to get into radio," Leaverton said.

So he headed, by passenger train, to California for boot camp. During his training, he learned a lot -- including the fact that getting sunburned is a Navy offense.

"You can get court martialled for it," he said with a grin.

After boot camp he enrolled in a two-month radio school.

"I'd never even touched a typewriter before, and you have to type for that," Leaverton said.

So he took a typing class that taught him to type in two weeks -- eight hours a day, five days a week, plus Saturday mornings.

Leaverton and the other students typed while music played.

"You get a rhythm typing to the music, and then they speed the music up, and you get a faster rhythm. It's quite a way to teach," Leaverton said.

After his training was complete and he'd somehow managed to pass a swimming test -- Leaverton claims he still can't swim except to barely dog paddle -- he boarded the U.S.S. George Clymer as a radio operator.

"We went to the Orient three times, you stayed about nine months each time," Leaverton said. "My favorite port was Hong Kong. They had a lot do to, shops and restaurants."

The Clymer's main job was to transport troops to Japan or directly to Korea, he said.

In the radio room, Leaverton and other radiomen would listen to messages coming in via Morse code, then type them down and deliver them to the recipient on the ship.

"The typewriters were bolted down because the ship rolls," Leaverton said. "You'd hook your feet on this bar under the table if the ship is pitching. It'll keep you from tipping over or sliding back."

And if the ship rolled left, they'd have to wait until it righted itself because the typewriter carriage couldn't go uphill.

Some messages came in a special code -- groups of five letters, not words -- and Leaverton would merely type the code and deliver it to someone who would use a code-breaking machine to read the message.

They were based in Japan, but the made port in the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong and more.

"In Japan, I visited a place where there houses were just like bamboo mats, sliding doors or walls," Leaverton said. "I think you could tear down a house like that in 15 minutes with your bare hands."

After five years aboard the U.S.S. George Clymer, Leaverton reenlisted and took a 26-month post in Italy.

In a nice coincidence, Leaverton's replacement aboard the Clymer ended up being his own brother.

"We got to spend a week together before I left," Leaverton said.

In Italy, Leaverton took a post at a NATO communications station where six nations had offices.

At this office Leaverton mostly used TeleType system that required typing the letters rather than tapping them out in Morse code.

During time off, Leaverton would sometimes head to the Navy beach used by a lot of U.S. servicemen.

"There was shuffleboard, it was right on the Mediterranean where you could go swimming -- wading in my case," he laughed.

And the food in Italy, he said, was to die for.

After returning to the U.S. from Italy, Leaverton boarded the U.S.S. Camp, a ship on the East Coast with mostly radar and radio men.

With this post, the U.S.S. Camp would spend about a week at four different ocean stations for radio communications, spending 34 days at sea at a time before returning to Newport, R.I.

"It was a real small ship, constantly bobbing around," Leaverton said. "I never got seasick, though."

Aboard the U.S.S. Camp, Leaverton sent messages via Morse code and Facsimile -- a predecessor to modern fax machines.

"This printed a map. It had a big wheel and each time it went around it would print one line," Leaverton said. "It took a long time."

A lot of the messages they sent and received had to to with the location not of enemy ships but icebergs.

He spent several years on the U.S.S. Camp.

Often, the sea was so choppy, all the hatches were closed on the ship because to go out on deck might risk a person falling overboard.

At times, he and others would belt themselves into their bunks so they wouldn't fall out in their sleep -- especially from the fourth bunk, about as high as a home's ceiling.

Still, Leaverton loved it. He loved his entire time in the Navy.

"I liked being at sea. You get to go everywhere, see everything," he said. "It's interesting to see how the people lived. And I appreciate what we have now after I've seen all that."

While posted in Japan on the U.S.S. George Clymer, Leaverton's ship had hosted a Christmas dinner on their ship for orphans from a Japanese orphanage.

Leaverton was honorably discharged and returned to Sioux City.

"You could have 90 days leave without losing your rank if you re-enlisted," he said.

His plans were to return to the West Coast and reenlist. But his story took another turn.

"I met my wife, and one thing led to another and I never made it back to the West Coast," Leaverton said.

He's been married to Julie for 47 years now. He lives just south of Le Mars and has children and grandchildren.

And just as his story changed, so has the Navy's.

"Now they don't even have radiomen on ships. Everything's done by computers," Leaverton said.

His work is now part of history. Sure, some parts of it will be in the history books, but those books won't have the details, the living color.

That's part of why Leaverton is writing his story. He hopes to finish it by the end of winter.

"I want to do it for my grandkids -- they're 3 and 5 right now -- and my two sons," Leaverton said. "I just enjoy doing it to remember."

And his time in the Navy is a story worth remembering, he said.

"It wasn't all peaches and cream, but it was a good life," Leaverton said. "I wouldn't trade it for anything."