My father has been going through some boxes from his parents, who died about 15 years ago. He found these post cards/telegrams, scanned ’em, and sent them along:
Here’s a challenge for you.
I found a series of letters from Grandpa to Grandma — some from before they were married some after. The ones in envelopes were postmarked either NY of DC — most were in envelopes with a Company in NYC. Grandpa was recruited to possibly serve in the Cape Verde Islands with a group that was to become the OSS (predecessor to the CIA). He went through training — apparently in NYC and DC. The letters are interesting, but incomplete because they only reflect one side of a conversation. But there’s reference to my father working — and finally getting paid, and being able to then afford to by something for my mother. I’m guessing a ring. There were reference to my father spending a lot of time learning aircraft silhouettes — and practicing shooting.
What I found more interesting were these two post cards and telegram all in code Maybe you can figure the code. I assume its a substitution code which should make it easy to break. I bet there’s even some program online to do that now.
None of us know what the postcards say. My grandfather would have been in the Army Air Corps when by the time he sent them, I believe. Here’s the thing typed out:
OEANR SDRET CUGVT EKYXD FSBDE WWYTH
AHHEH NEOEO EINMR EULNS DRLVH LDMDA
EYWIH EEBYH WUBCV AAUDD MIRTW LIEAO
MEEOE TRSAD AEERR EOINS EAERR YSRIA
OHOAN UACIA TIU -133
EYEUG RSIEO VAOXF LAELH ETNWR
ERVET TNSYH EIREO SYSDR YNUBI
TDLDI ULOEG TOEDN LIUTO WASOI
AECHF OELXE LFIAT TMEOM YEE -98
I’m hoping someone on the Interweb might be able to help us with this.
Sounds like a Daily News column to me…
Be sure to drink your Ovaltine
Hell, i think i have it. second one:
Feelswe
lltoday
afterse
eingyou
lastnig
htyouar
ethebes
tmedici
neinthe
worldfo
rmeilov
eyoudea
restilo
veyouxx
Got the first one.
dreamto
fyoudre
ssedasa
bridean
dinmydr
eamiwas
worried
whether
youwere
tallert
hnnibec
auseyou
hadahig
hcrownv
eilmust
havebee
nthecak
eilovey
oudearx
Correct formatting:
1st:
dreamt of you dressed as a bride and in my dream i was
worried whether you were taller thnnn i because you
had a high crown veil must have been the cake
i love you dear x
2nd:
Feel swell today after seeing you
last night you are the best medicine in the world for me
i love you dearest
i love you xx
Kalxis was the man on this one…
How the hell did you figure that out?
I was wondering the same thing, so I wrote to Kalxis. This is what he wrote back:
Holy
crap.
Thats amazing!!!!
That’s a wonderful story.
[…] gentleman named Derek Rose found a telegram in his attic, a message that was encoded and only 133 characters long, from his grandfather to his grandmother, […]
[…] Verde islands as a spy. Grandpa went to New York City for training. There he learned the basics of sending coded messages. (see post cards at left) He learned Morse Code and had a practice key that I used to play with. He […]
You should call the local paper or tv station. I’m betting they would do one of those cheesy little segments at 5 o’ clock or something.
Tricia Pendragon dot com is under construction but I think Kalixis has a most brilliant brain – Gods!! I went Cross eyed – Is Kalixis a Cryptographer – myself – I am Heathen
Gpa’s admonition to drink your ovaltine was a trifle unkind – why even I saw it as a genuine request for assistance with a problem – and I am one of the World’s Registered Accredited Sceptics, besides that is, being totally certifiable
Thankyou Kalixis – Fine work
Patricia
Either Kalixis is a genius or he has way too much time on his hands. Maybe both!
NOW THE FBI WILL KILL U 4 LEAVING TOP SECRET MESAGES ON THE INTERENT
sounds like it is straight out of the cryptonomicon. very cool, and kudos for Kalixis!
Wow! That’s lovely!
Well done that man. Must be a Dr of something, and deservedly so!
Just a good thing your gramps wasn’t saying anything too racy!!
Kudos to Kalixis for solving the code, but I have a different theory about the x’s in the letter – they could denote kisses, like xoxo.
What a lovely use of the Internet! To have such an intriguing question answered so beautifully. And so fast!
Those other translation are totally off. Here is the actual transcription:
Vuntz I had a kendy store
Bizniss vas so bad,
I asked mein vife
vat to do
And dis is vat she said:
Take yourself some kerosene
Pour it on de floor,
Take a match
Give a Scratch
No more kendy store, HEY!
It is amazing too because grandmother would have to know how to decode it, which means grandpa must have taught her. Very sweet and romantic, don’t ya think, for an OSS officer?
Wow, what a great little story that unfolded here! I was going to mention Cryptonomicon and give the sad information that the code will not be broken without the key that your grandmother had, but not only am I not the first person to mention cryptonomicon, but it’s even been broken!
I’m a pretty bright guy, but I can barely understand Kalixis’ solution even after the explanation–all the factors and line juggling sounds like stabbing in the dark to me. And yet it worked! How in the world did he arrive at that solution from the clues given?!?
Tim – Basically, it was a very simple code and Kalixis guessed that “I love you” would be in the text and that it was a columnar transposition code. He was right so it was just a matter of time before he could find a solution. Stabbing in the dark can be effective if you know the general area in which to stab!
This was never going to be a Cryptonomicon-type code (great book btw). I mean I love my grandmother but she was not going to be doing anything so sophisticated and complex, y’know?
Nolatz – Well, I never really thought of my grandpa as like an “OSS officer.” (And I dunno his rank, but I’m sure he was more of a grunt than an officer.) He was just an everyday Joe (I say that lovingly) trying to serve his country.
Did you what came out of the National Archives this week, how even people like chef Julia Child served in the OSS?
Derek,
Grandpa was at least a Staff Sergeant (Non-commissioned officer) in the Army Air Corps, so I’d guess he probably did have an officer’s rank in the OSS.
Amazing solution! I would have never solved it. Remind me to start using chaos theory encryption. You guys are scary! 😛
Actually Evan, though Grandpa was a Staff Sergeant when he was discharged, the potential OSS thing happened before he went in to the Army. I think that it was because the OSS thing didn’t happen that he went into the Army. I don’t know if he was drafted or enlisted.
He was drafted – I found a record of it a while back, and I’m pretty positive I sent the link around before.
http://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=893&mtch=1&tf=F&q=mario+rose&bc=sl,fd&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=2538884
There was a POW record too:
http://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=466&mtch=1&cat=WR26&tf=F&sc=11675,11660,11679,11667,11669,11676,11672,11673&bc=sl,fd&txt_11660=rose+mario&op_11660=0&nfo_11660=V,24,1900&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=109309
Fantastic Story
Here’s another code for someone to break.
http://letter.ie/0029/0001.html
This time from 1903 written on a postcard, it mite have “I LOVE YOU” too in it but I don’t know.