Artifacts Twenty One

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Spec. 4 James Thomas Davis of Overton County, Tennessee was the first American Combat casualty of the Vietnam War. The fact was never confirmed, however, until recently when the National Security Agency declassified files on his work as a cryptographer. Following his death, the 3rd Radio Research Unit handmade a beaded pall that draped his casket and was donated to his family upon arrival home. The family donated the pall to the Tennessee State Museum where it still sits to this day.

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This is a photograph of the 3rd Radio Research Unit Headquarters in Saigon renamed Davis Station in honor of the Tennessean’s service to America.

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This is an aerial view of the facility and the area surrounding Davis Station. Following his death, the U.S. Army transferred the radio detection gear from ground-based to aerial-based operations in order to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.

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This is a monument erected at Fort Meade, Maryland honoring all cryptographers and communication intelligence officers who died in combat. Many of their stories could never be told because of the sensitive nature of their work and its involvement with national security issues. While the monument was officially dedicated in 1996, many of the stories around these individual’s deaths have never been made public. While they were, by and large military servicemen, the incidents surrounding their deaths made it such that few were awarded medals bestowed upon others for the same service. Today the National Security Agency is regarded as one of the best communication intelligence agencies and employs more mathematicians than any other organization in the world.