Inside a secretive military facility, the group of U.S. Navy sailors learned about a top-secret weapon they thought would help win World War II.
Radar technology would let naval ships see dangers approaching from far away. That ability could tip the balance of the war.
As Lee Brickey learned to operate and read radar, he considered it an opportunity to help the war effort that had never been done before.
“I thought it was pretty special. Radar was brand new,” the Franklin resident said.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryBrickey was one of the first U.S. military members to learn to use radar technology. His expertise in using long-distance signals to detect enemy planes and battleships in the Pacific Theater helped pave the way to victory in the war.
He came into the radar program knowing nothing about the physics that made it work. But his hard work to teach himself ensured that he was a vital part of the war effort.
“I didn’t know anything about electricity. But they taught me,” he said.
Birthday cards and well-wishes cover the windowsills, tables and nightstand in Brickey’s room at the Franklin United Methodist Community. He turned 100 on Nov. 4, celebrating a century’s worth of living.
Despite the years, he can still remember his time in the military well.
Brickey was living in Salem, West Virginia when he joined the Navy in his late 20s.
After he enlisted, he was given a multiple choice IQ test, to gauge his intelligence and place him in the proper role in the military. Brickey scored well enough that his superiors wanted to send him to officer training school.
“I didn’t want that, since I wasn’t planning on making the military a career,” he said. “So they had something else for me.”
That led to the shadowy, heavily-guarded radar program.
Before even starting in his training, naval officials thoroughly investigated Brickey and his background, even interviewing people from his hometown in West Virginia.
The Navy had converted a nondescript school building into the training program for the technology, and Brickey and the other recruits sat in their desks every day learning about the intricacies of radar.
The commanding officer of the program was a professor from the University of Pennsylvania. Brickey was surrounded by college graduates and others who specialized in electronics.
“They had all kinds of people there, and some of them were way ahead of me,” he said. “I’d never even been to college.”
To make up, Brickey had to study late into the night. The secrecy of the program meant that he couldn’t take notes during class, or read through the radar manuals without being supervised.
“You couldn’t just go into the building to study; they had a Marine guarding it,” he said. “I had to get permission. I had to be where he could see me all the time. But I’d go about every night and study.”
His perseverance paid off. Brickey finished near the top of his class in the initial training, and moved on to more rigorous education at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. He had to learn the physics of electricity, as well as how to operate, read and repair the machinery that would be used on Navy ships.
When his training was finished, Brickey was assigned to LST-43, a small amphibious landing craft that moved troops and supplies from island to island in the Pacific.
The Navy was planning on using a system of radar-equipped ships to figure out the location of any enemy targets in a specific area.
“We could pick up those enemy ships and where they were going,” he said.
Brickey’s work on radar was the significant experience in his military career. But during his service, he also crossed paths with the USS Indianapolis, the ship responsible for transporting the atomic bombs in 1945.
He had been assigned to additional training in California to learn code between ships in the Pacific. After military officials sent him to Hawaii for more work, he caught a ride on the USS Indianapolis.
No one but the highest military officials knew it at the time, but parts for the atomic bomb were loaded on board during the trip. After Brickey disembarked in Honolulu, the ship continued on to the island of Tinian, where it dropped off the bombs.
En route to the Philippines, the USS Indianapolis was infamously hit by a Japanese torpedo, and sank. Nearly 900 men died in the attack.
Brickey was discharged from service Nov. 25, 1954. He returned to the U.S., riding a Pullman coach train all the way across the country to West Virginia.
“The Navy sends you in style,” he said.
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Who: Lee Brickey
Home: Franklin
Age: 100
Military service: U.S. Navy in World War II
Area of service: Pacific Theater
Duty: Radar operator on LST-43, an amphibious supply ship.
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