Memories of and a Memorial to the Army Security Agency

 By Liz Tenney Jarvis

This year, Memorial Day is May 27. The federal holiday was established to mourn and to honor those who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. To date, there is no actual memorial at Arlington National Cemetery dedicated to those who passed while performing their duties in the Army Security Agency.

The Army Security Agency was formally established in post WWII. With its roots in WWI signals intelligence, the organization was renamed twice during the course of WWII. Their secret operations and code-breaking capabilities saved thousands of lives – they contributed to the allied forces’ ability to gain the upper hand to win the war. Post WWII, the Army Security Agency, as it came to be known in 1945, maintained worldwide field stations.

The very nature of the Army Security Agency’s support of war efforts and in turn, efforts to maintain peace, was extremely technical, at times incredibly dangerous, highly classified and top secret. Intelligence gathering missions did have deadly outcomes. 

For example, more than several Army Security Agency aircraft were lost during the Vietnam War with many “silent warriors” never making it home. In fact, the agency was not even recognized as being in Vietnam. Rather, it was referred to as Radar Research.

Having sworn to secrecy and under heavy penalties, soldiers in the Army Security Agency could not share their work with family and friends, sometimes not even with those they worked with unless “as needed.” Never compromising the mission was not only physically risky but put tremendous mental strain on those in the Army Security Agency.

Even in the years following the Army Security Agency’s being officially absorbed by the United States Intelligence and Security Command in early 1977, the ingrained training to maintain silence stayed with those who had served. The U.S. government only recently declassified certain information with regards to the activities in countries such as Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, their surrounding areas as well as in other parts of the world.

With this declassification, Veterans of the Army Security Agency slowly began to speak about their experiences and reach out. Due to the long history of secrecy, many were reluctant to share at all.  

Mark Gunderman (ASA ‘75-78) gives a little history of how recent gatherings of Army Security Agency Veterans came to be: “Pre COVID, fellow ASA members, Bill (“Jake”) Jacobson and Harry Newman connected via an ASA Facebook Group, the National Army Security Agency Association, and met for lunch one day. 

“During discussions, it was realized that many more ASA Veterans were probably located in the area, and they needed to get together. So, it was decided that they would try to organize a monthly gathering. A notice was put out on the NASAA Facebook Group, and it was astounding how many of this relatively unheralded group of Veterans responded and joined the luncheons.”

A luncheon is held monthly either at Smokin’ Willy in Purcellville or in Winchester at Mission BBQ.  While Veterans from the greater Northern Virginia area catch up with their lives current day, they also reminisce, recall and reflect.  These are experiences that were long buried and can now, for the most part, be shared.  

Harry Newman says that as he enlisted in 1966, he had “no idea what Army intelligence was all about, let alone what ASA did in the Army.” Newman says that, “Firstly, it is rewarding to just be able to talk with people that had the same experiences as I did, and perhaps knowing the same people as I served with. Jake Jacobson and I, as it turned out, had the same First Sergeant. Dick Henson and I attended the same Special Forces Airborne School in Vietnam at different times. George Trogner was a member of the same unit I commanded at Fort Bragg, after I was reassigned. 

“So, though we never met while in service, we have a connection. Secondly, it is therapeutic in many ways to share experiences that we could never do before due to the highly classified nature of the experience. Probably 90 % of our activities have been declassified now, and it is really neat to even be able to talk about them.” let alone talk with people that had ‘been there, done that, and even have the t-shirt.’ 

 Bill “Jake” Jacobson indicates that unlike some Veterans in the group, his military «career» was a short one. After being drafted in 1967, he enlisted in ASA because as he says, “there was no ASA in Vietnam [so] of course, after finishing Morse Code and Direction-finding schools at Fort Devens, I received my orders for Vietnam where I met some of the best friends I’ve ever had.”   

Jacobson continues, “Harry and I connected just before the COVID pandemic, compared our experiences in ASA and set out to put together a group of like-minded ASA Veterans with the goal of reliving our shared histories. Sadly, we fear, the public history of the Army Security Agency will die with the last of us.”

The efforts to establish an ASA memorial have been in the works for over seven years.  In 2017, an extensive presentation was made to the National Cemetery Remember and Explore Subcommittee. Numerous letters of support by high-ranking members of the U.S. military, foreign embassy representatives, members of Congress, Virginia U.S. Senators Kaine and Warner as well as ASA Veterans and their survivors made for a compelling justification for the proposed memorial. Preliminary design plans for the memorial were also submitted.  

As of 2024, the “Unsung Heroes of the Army’s Unknown Unit” have no such national memorial. This is not due to lack of funds and ample space at Arlington National Cemetery is thought to be available. After three unsuccessful attempts, hopefully now a Congressional Bill will again be put forward for a full House vote so that on Memorial Days to come, the Army Security Agency will have a memorial dedicated to those who quietly saved uncountable lives “because we were never there … although, we were.”