1 School was out due to a teacher strike so we went on a field trip down to Fort Ward thanks to the hospitality of people with connections to historic buildings at the old base. Prior to and during WWI, Fort Ward guarded the waterways leading to the Bremerton Navy base. During WWII it hosted a top secret listening station which intercepted encrypted radio messages from Tokyo to Washington, DC. The "Magic" messages were captured by cryptanalysts and sent to D.C. for decoding. The hike through the old base was so interesting. We got to see the former "Station S" which is now a private residence, too.
2 Odd to see an old frigate slipping through the waters while we were on our historic tour...
3 These were officers' quarters, but are now condos.
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5 CO's home.
6 Doing a rubbing of Morse code around the flag pole on the parade grounds.
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15 Teens who are working to restore the old Bakery Building as a community center. They gave a great presentation and shared historic photos with the kids. We had 12 kids and 5 adults along.
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19 Visiting Station S!
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21 Seeing a Morse code machine!
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23 Pretty cool. I downloaded an app for my phone - we are learning Morse code now!
24 The troops learning to decrypt Japanese Morse Code.
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27 Re-enacting some WWII battles :)
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32 Bunkers at an old battery guarding the waterway.
