Top of The Edge - Orientation Part 1

Tomorrow we'll be going to the Charleston Navy Base. We'll board a transport boat from there that'll take us to the Coast Guard station on the west side of the Charleston Peninsula for a short briefing with the base commander there. Then we'll get back on board the transport vessel and make our way down to the Coast Guard equestrian training station on Hilton Head Island."

The car was silent as they approached the "Grace Memorial" AKA "Cooper River" bridge. Smith looked in his rear-view mirror at his two passengers, both of which were red-faced and looked like they were going to explode. Robyn's eyes were glassy from tearing up. Then he asked, "rough day at school?" "Nothing we can't handle." Cherry replied curtly.

Smith's response was a bit curt as well, "While I believe your... self-reliant nature may at times be an asset, I also believe that at times it can be quite a detriment." Smith paused briefly before continuing, "At the expense of sounding insensitive and confrontational, I need to inform you that these briefings you'll be attending this afternoon and for the next several days are crucial to the success of this initiative as well as your safety. In other words, I need you focused. If you are having second thoughts about this, I need you to let me know now."

"We're in", Robyn responded with a look of both defiance and determination as she dried her eyes.

"Absolutely", Cherry resounded.

"Good, because your briefings actually start now." Smith cleared his throat and took a deep breath before going on, "Back in June of this year, a German U-boat that had been spotted off the coast of Florida launched a raft that brought 4 German spies ashore to Verde Beach. They had with them enough explosives to cause quite a bit of damage to industries that are crucial to the continued success of our troops fighting abroad. Since their capture, we've been able to learn a great deal about a larger plan named 'Operation Pastorius'. Our knowledge of this operation is what has prompted us to launch the 'Coastal Observer Initiative' in which the two of you have been selected to participate. Something else of which you may not be aware as I am certain most Americans aren't... German Nazi submarines are now positioned all along the US eastern seaboard and have been successfully attacking, and in many cases sinking, American and allied forces supply ships only a few miles off the coast."

The sobering thought that Nazi U-boats were sinking U.S. ships this close to home and that Nazi spies had been caught on American soil enabled Robyn to put her recent troubles with school and Professor Michaels on the back burner... for now anyway.

Fort Moultrie

Once they had crossed the Cooper River, Smith drove along Pitt Street through Mount Pleasant which took them to the only bridge that crossed the Intracoastal Waterway to Sullivan's Island. As they approached the bridge, Smith said, "I hope the two of you brought along some form of Identification as I had instructed. Once we get across The Pitt Street Bridge, we are practically at the Fort Moultrie guard shack. The guards there will need to verify who you are." To his surprise, both quickly produced their drivers' license and birth certificates and held them up so he could see them in his rear-view mirror. Both ladies had been to Mount Pleasant before and even across The Pitt Street Bridge to Sullivan's Island, but they had never actually entered Fort Moultrie. The truth, however, was that the entire Southwest End of Sullivan's Island resembled a military base. Once they were inside the central confines of the Fort, it seemed that everyone there knew Mr. Smith – lots of smiles and cheerful greetings.

Their escort led them to an underground bunker. Once inside he stopped at the second door on the right and knocked. They could hear a gruff voice holler from inside, "enter!"

He opened the door but did not enter. Instead, he just stated in a very direct way, "Mr. Smith and two ladies are here to see you, Sergeant Major."

"Good, show them in Corporal."

At that, the Corporal fully opened the door and stepped to one side as he motioned for Smith and his two female companions to enter. Once they were all inside the room the Corporal closed the door behind them. The three of them were just standing there in front of a desk occupied by a gruff-looking man whose face resembled that of a bulldog. He was shuffling through some papers on his desk, obviously looking for something, and for the moment seemed to be completely ignoring their presence. Suddenly without any warning, he jumped up from his desk while simultaneously slamming both fists against the desktop. He looked directly at Smith and with a bellowing deep voice he hollered, "Bart! You old dog! Why I ought to..."

Smith interrupted smiling and extending his hand across the desk, "You ought to invite me over for dinner – it's been a while since I tasted anything that can even compare to Helen's cooking."

With a huge smile across his face, the gruff old bulldog-faced man grasped Smith's extended hand in an exceptionally firm handshake. "Yes. We'll have Sunday dinner together. I'll ask Helen if she would be willing to cook you up some of her famous fried chicken, with Crowder peas, cornbread, and rice and brown gravy on the side."

"That would be fantastic. It's good to see you again J. J.."

Then with a little more formality, Smith said, "Command Sergeant Major Johnson please allow me to introduce Miss Robyn Kramer and Miss Cherry Welling"

He motioned for them to step forward, and slightly nodding the bulldog-faced old Sergeant Major gently grasped Robyn's hand first, "Pleased to meet you Miss Kramer", and then Cherry's, "Please to meet you, Miss Welling." Then, pointing to some chairs against the far wall of his office Command Sergeant Major James Johnson or "J. J." as Smith referred to him said, "Here, pull a couple of those over and have a seat."

After everyone was seated, Sergeant Major Johnson looked at the clock on the wall and then to Smith, "We'll head over to the briefing room across the hall in a few minutes."

Then he began rifling through the papers on his desk again and with noticeable irritation and said, "I was looking for... Oh, who cares what I was looking for? They should be ready for us over there now. Let's go."

As soon as they stepped out into the hall a young lieutenant approached holding several documents out toward the Sergeant Major, "Sergeant Major Johnson, here are your briefing notes along with the three additional copies you requested."

Taking the papers from the Lieutenant, Johnson replied, "I was told by Colonel Lewis that these would be on my desk over an hour ago. What happened Lieutenant?"

"The return carriage on one of the typewriters broke... and that slowed us down quite a bit."

Shaking his head slowly as they proceeded to the briefing room across the hall Command Sergeant Major Johnson grumbled, "You know Bart, the more things change, the more they stay the same. We've got weapons around here that weigh over 50 tons. They can suddenly rise above the ground and fire shells that weigh nearly 600 pounds and hit a target over 8 miles away. The recoil of the thing sends it back down out of sight and harm's way while it's being reloaded. It's wonderful technology... yet I can't get a simple task done, like getting some additional copies of some notes within a reasonable time-frame."

The briefing room was more like a large office with desks around the sides and a large table in the middle. A map was opened and spread over the table. Three men were standing around it while talking and pointing at different places on the map. As soon as Sergeant Major Johnson was done with his rant, one of the men, Colonel Lewis, addressed him, "Sergeant Major have you given our visitors their copies of the notes?"

"I just got them sir and I'm dispersing them now", and he quickly gave each of them a copy. With a furrowed brow the silver-haired debonair Colonel Lewis responded, "You just got them?" He grimaced and shook his head. Then with a smile, he came around the table to shake hands and introduce himself to the ladies. Apparently, he and Mr. Smith were already acquainted.

As a member of the US Army Signal Corps during WWI, Smith helped develop the "one-time-pad" encryption. It was impossible to break by analytic methods. At the conclusion of the war, he played an integral part in establishing the Government Code and Cipher School (GC & CS). As a signal and cryptographic officer, Smith spent time at practically every military installation in the country. In 1933 he was stationed at Fort Moultrie where he spent the last 4 years of his Army career. Consequently, nearly everyone at Fort Moultrie knew him.