
Remembering Joe Howell today! This photo was taken in 1952 at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. He was a veteran of the Korean War and served in Washington, D.C. in Army Intelligence (pre-cursor to the NSA.)
Thinking back to a conversation I had with him about his service always makes me smile. I asked, “What did you do in the Army during the Korean War?” He replied, “I was a code breaker!” I thought, wow! — “How did you know Korean?”. He said, “I didn’t.” Of course that was a lead in, so I asked, “Then how did you break Korean codes?” Wait for it — “I didn’t! I broke Vietnamese codes!” Ah, that makes total sense (Not!!!). So he explained that the Indo-China region (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, etc.) was volatile and the Army anticipated conflict in Vietnam and intelligence gathering was essential.
Side bar — a little history. Did you know that Vietnam was part of Indo-China that was ruled by the French Third Republic starting in 1883 until the fall of France in WWII? After WWII, the French attempted to reclaim the area and fought the First Indo-China war against the Viet-Minh until the Geneva Accord of 1954 forced the French to withdraw from Vietnam. The Geneva Accord split Vietnam into the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North) and the State of Vietnam (South). Elections didn’t happen in the south as required which led to the Second Indo-China (Vietnam) war.
As a result of the French Colonial rule over Vietnam, the traditional Chinese characters that were used for the written language were replaced with a new Vietnamese alphabet that used Latin script. In addition, Vietnamese incorporated many French words into it’s vocabulary.
Ok, back to the story: After learning a bit about the history and language of Vietnam, it made perfect sense why my dad was assigned to break Vietnamese codes. He learned Latin for 6 years as a Catholic school student (masses were always spoken in Latin until 1964 and Catholic kids had to learn it.) He took French in High School for 4 years. And he was super smart with a passion for puzzles. A perfect combination of skills and interest!!!
RIP Dad! Thanks for the memories and lessons!

That’s awesome D! Thank you for the great summary and history lesson. Also, I see the resemblance. Sadly, I see he was only 71 when he died.
Yeah, 71 was too young. Most of the Howells have been in their 80s. Pancreatic cancer came quickly and took him quickly. So long ago now, crazy!!
Nice tribute to Dad, Dennis.
Interesting story to tell. Glad I could share.
Dennis- Another eloquent posting. Please keep them coming and Happy Veterans Day to your Dad~
Thanks Jay!!
thanks for sharing. great story
I’m glad you liked it! Thanks!