ThisWeek UA 07/07/2011
Upper Arlington resident John Bergmann may have been “just a mathematician” during World War II, but his contributions were as great as any soldier’s on the front line.
“I was in college in Pennsylvania studying to be a CPA, and just two weeks before I graduated, in May of 1941, six months before the Pearl Harbor attack, I was approached by the U.S. Army,” said Bergmann, who is 89. “They told me that they had an opportunity for me but couldn’t tell me what it was. It was secret, and they didn’t have time to wait. They needed an answer immediately.
“I was hesitant about it,” Bergmann recalled. “I was about to graduate and wanted to go and make a living after all of that school, but ultimately, I agreed to go.”
The army wanted him to become a code breaker, according to Bergmann. They scouted him based on his skills with Morse code from his 10 years in the Boy Scouts and the mathematical skills that he’d honed in school.
“One week after graduation, I was given a second lieutenant rank and shipped off to Fort Meade, Fla., along with 24 other guys who had similar backgrounds as me,” Bergmann said. “We were told that Churchill said to Roosevelt that (the U.S.) will be in this war soon and better have some good intelligence. But we didn’t, at that point.”
The men were housed in an old stone farmhouse at the far end of the reservation at Fort Meade, Bergmann said, with only a cook, driver and housekeeper, along with a guard.
“There was rarely ever a visitor,” Bergmann said. “I was told to tell people I was an accountant for Washington. My commanding officer told us that if (we) ever say anything of value, (we’d) be shot or sent to Leavenworth. I know he wasn’t kidding.”
According to Bergmann, the 25 members of the unit, code-named “Ultra,” traveled around the globe training radio operators to pick up enemy transmissions, which then would be decoded. After only six weeks in service, Bergmann was sent to Burma to attempt to steal the ever-changing code scrolls from a Japanese outpost.
“There were 12 U.S. Army Rangers, three (local) guides and me,” Bergmann said. “We were supposed to take over this station of six to 10 Japanese soldiers that was being used as a transfer point in the mountains, to move Japanese soldiers through to take over Rangoon. I was only in six weeks at this point, and I said, ‘I’m no soldier, I’m a mathematician.'”
The mission cost Bergmann his right eye, and two of the local guides lost their lives on that Burmese mountain when one of the guides tripped a land mine. Recovering from his injury, Bergmann went right back into service, cracking German and Japanese encoded messages stateside.
Bergmann served from June 1941 to December 1945, when the unit was disbanded. After leaving active service, he joined Peabody Coal Co., which ultimately led to moving his family to Upper Arlington. After 40 years with Peabody, Bergmann retired to care for his wife, Lois, who recently passed away.
In 2008, Bergmann was honored by the Upper Arlington Senior Center for his service to seniors. He volunteers as a Senior Center Goodwill Ambassador, visiting other seniors who are sick or homebound. Bergmann also remains very active with several veterans’ groups, including annual participation in the Upper Arlington Fourth of July parade.
Bergmann survives his wife of 55 years, and has three daughters, five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
“As far as I know I’m the last of the 25 guys (in my unit) still alive,” Bergman said. “I’ve had an absolutely wonderful life, no regrets and I wouldn’t change a thing.”