![]() ![]() No radios, newspaper or any form of communication with the outside world. There were about 30 to 35 men at his location who served in intelligence gathering operations. He witnessed suicide of other airmen who could not take the isolation. Bill Hudson was a “Silent Warrior” who served in silence.īill felt like he was never going to get out of there. He could say nothing he was nowhere to be found he never existed. He wrote to his Mother everyday telling her the same story day after day. No contact with the outside world except for letters that flowed through a New York PO box. ![]() Bill repeated to me several times, “We were not there.” His mission was highly secretive. His parents did not know where he was or what he was doing. Cold War efforts.īill served in the middle of the Pakistan dessert for most of his 4 years in the Air Force not being able to discuss his work or location with anyone. These jobs, which required top secret codeword clearance, were extremely high pressure and were considered essential to U.S. This intelligence was analyzed in the field, and the results transmitted to the National Security Agency for further analysis and distribution to other intelligence recipients. There motto was “Freedom through Vigilance.” The USAFSS was a secretive, tight-knit branch of cold warriors tasked with monitoring, collecting and interpreting military voice and electronic signals’ from countries of interest. The USAFSS was the cryptographic intelligence branch. When training was complete, assignments to duty were posted, Bill Hudson was the only one headed to Peshawar. His next training base was at Kessler AFB in Biloxi. His superiors did not mention any particular assignment for him. Bill didn’t know what this was all about. The FBI was checking him out to be able to give him a top secret security clearance. A couple of weeks after he left for the base his Mother wrote asking him if he was in trouble because the FBI was in the neighborhood asking his school and neighbors about his character. Bill told me he always did well on tests but he wasn’t sure this time it was a good thing.īill went to basic training school at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas. Only those airmen who scored in the top half of 1% on the AF aptitude test were considered the “cream of the crop” and were culled from others for service in USAFSS. Bill Hudson, at 19 years of age, was headed to the desert to take a large part in the security of our nation during the Cold War. A base was placed in the middle of the desert near Peshawar, West Pakistan to spy on Russia’s Tyuratam Missile Testing Range. The country needed to keep a close eye on Russia. In 1948 the United States Air Force Security Service (USAFSS) had been established. Little did he know he would be serving his country in isolation. Joni Pavlik, a museum volunteer, helps achieve these goals with her interview of a veteran and his story below.īill Hudson grew up in Atlanta, Georgia in a loving home in the 1940-50’s in an all-American modest neighborhood. The Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas has the goals of honoring veterans, educating young and old, and preserving our proud history.
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