Most of us think we know what censorship is. Our modern communications are peppered with terms like “encrypted” and most of us are well aware of the danger of sending electronic communications with our personal health information, identifying info like a social or even a phone number in some cases. But no matter how much you think you understand about censorship, I don’t think it’s possible for us to fully grasp what it was like in Los Alamos in the 1940s.

Day to Day Post

If you were part of Site Y, you had a responsibility to follow the provisions of paragraph 3d of War Department Training Circular No. 15 dated 16 February 1943. Eleanor Jette provides these guidelines in the appendices of her book, Inside Box 1663. The layers of security are daunting to imagine. Tech Area employees had to deposit their mail inside the Tech Area Censorship receptacle. Everyone else had to use either the Army receptacle at the Army post depot or the civilian receptacle. But in the early days, everything came in and out of PO Box 1663.

The guidelines specified that all censorship would be done off site by personnel educated in the specific process of censorship. It’s difficult to imagine what it would’ve been like to be up on the hill in the Secret City back then. Even today it’s somewhat difficult for locals to explain to “outsiders” that if you have a partner or family member who is LANL employed, you can’t really ask them details about what they do. Growing up, we used to joke about the grunt and nod and significant look language that seemed to develop when our parents or other adults got together. As though they were not talking about things just as often as they were discussing them.

During the Manhattan Project, employees couldn’t even tell their families why they were here or where, exactly, HERE was! There could be no mention of what was happening. They were given the explanation of being attached to the Engineering District and that it was aligned with the war effort and that was about it.

Communications could be conducted in English, French, German, italian, and Spanish. If you wanted to use another language, you had to get special permission from the Post Commander. No codes, ciphers, or any sort of secret writing was allowed. You couldn’t even use doodles, cross out words, or any other symbols. An ink stain probably would’ve gotten your letter returned to you.

One letter was returned to sender because the writer had attempted to use a humorous analogy about teaching employees to dance. Can you imagine what it would be like to move your family to the “ends of the Earth” and not be allowed to explain why or even what what happening on a day to day basis? Letters and packages had to be sent to the censors unsealed. No wrapping a birthday gift. No carefully arranging a holiday package.

PO Box 1663

Most of us have heard of PO Box 1663. But how weird would it feel to ask your mother to send your birthday cards to Mr. John Jones, PO Box 1663? There could be no use of any project personnel’s names in communications. Mr. John Jones of Santa Fe, NM was probably the most prolific correspondent in history!

Of course, as the population of technical staff, military and support personnel grew, there was a strong necessity of creating two more “dummy” post office boxes. One specifically for the military folks, and one for the civilian support staff. It became a hard and fast rule that sending and receiving mail was done through your assigned PO Box in order to keep the censorship staff on track. Sending a letter or package at that time was a bit like writing a paper and getting back the corrections until you’ve done it to the professor’s satisfaction! You can read more about the post office situation in a previous post HERE.

The Infamous Letter

Correspondence coming into Los Alamos was censored just as heavily as that going out. One story I find fascinating is of a rather infamous letter which remained a mystery for nearly 80 years!

Sgt Katherine “Pat” Patterson from Oxford, Mississippi was a WAC posted here in Los Alamos. Her brother Jim was stationed in France during the war and she corresponded with him. At one point she mentioned she was stationed somewhere northwest of Santa Fe and Jim send her a very interesting response. The following is an excerpt from Jim’s letter which is part of the archives in our local history museum.

“You ask how much I know about the place out there,” Jim wrote, adding, “you would be surprised.” He continued by asking a series of questions. “Has Bencis Gonzales in the PX there killed a deer yet? Is Ashley Pond frozen over? What does Peubelo Canyon look like? Do you ever ride a horse named Chili from the corral under the hill? I find out all these things by gazing into a big crystal ball.” He continued, “I know just how to get out to where you are. From Santa Fe to Pajaque, then left across the Rio Grande up Cubbra Hill, Otowi Hill, and past the Mesa.” His spelling was wrong in several instances, but it was clear enough to get the attention of the mail censors.

As you might imagine, the top brass grew VERY concerned! They asked Pat to send a letter back asking where her brother got this info. He didn’t seem to understand the problem and just kept telling her he and his “buddy” had looked into their crystal ball. Pat was informed she was no longer allowed to correspond with her brother while she was in Los Alamos, and the letter went into the archives and became one of unexplained mysteries of the war. Then Pat’s daughter, Debra, discovered her uncle Jim had been in France with a man named Collier Baird.

Baird had fought in the Battle of the Bulge and had lived to return home. He’d been stationed with Jim Patterson in France with Yankee Company during the war. But before that? Collier Baird was part of the last graduating class of the Los Alamos Ranch School! Baird knew all of those details about Los Alamos because he’d been here for years before Project Y took over the school and the Pajarito Plateau! You can read more about that story HERE.

You can find a lot more info about censorship in Los Alamos on the Historical Museum Blog HERE. And if you’re ready to change up your living situation here in Los Alamos, give me a call! There are some really amazing properties for sale in Los Alamos and this could be the perfect time to discover your dream home just waiting for you on a quiet street full of gorgeous scenery and interesting history! I’m a Los Alamos native and I love to help folks discover Los Alamos!