Waterman Cap replacement in WW2

Archive.org is a fascinating website, and probably one of the most valuable and underrated sites on the entire internet

As I was searching for documents with the words "fountain pen" I stumbled on this series of 5 back and forth letters from someone at the Pentagon in WW2, and the Waterman pen company in an attempt to get a new cap for a 25 year old eye dropper.

It's a fun read.

https://archive.org/details/41732239077147/mode/2up

The funniest part is how long it went back and forth for... I mean, at what point does a man break down and just BUY A NEW PEN already!?

I guess there was no shortage of dip pens lying around in the Pentagon in late '43/early '44...

Does anyone else see the irony that a man who describes himself as 'an old-fashioned man who does not take readily to new fangled ideas' is a 'Director of Communications Research'?

Apparently according to someone’s research on fpn he was the guy who broke “purple “ in ww2. In that case, the man is (IMO) entitled to his eccentricities :)

But yes. I do see your point :)

Knowing that the US Army's signal intelligence (SIG INT) units in Vietnam were officially labelled 'Radio Research' units, I had an intuition that the job title was ambiguous enough that he was involved with radio intercepts and cryptography, but neglected to research the man. My faux pas.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by An old bloke

Knowing that the US Army's signal intelligence (SIG INT) units in Vietnam were officially labelled 'Radio Research' units, I had an intuition that the job title was ambiguous enough that he was involved with radio intercepts and cryptography, but neglected to research the man. My faux pas.

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The SIGINT world attracts some… unique personalities…

;)

But in fairness, i didn’t reach him either, i just liked the letters

Quote:

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Originally Posted by INeedAFinancialAdvisor

Quote:

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Originally Posted by An old bloke

Knowing that the US Army's signal intelligence (SIG INT) units in Vietnam were officially labelled 'Radio Research' units, I had an intuition that the job title was ambiguous enough that he was involved with radio intercepts and cryptography, but neglected to research the man. My faux pas.

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The SIGINT world attracts some… unique personalities…

;)

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True. A quick read through the history of (and a look at some of those who inhabited) Bletchley Park between beginning of 1940 and the end of 1945 is proof of that.

Agreed.

I also can independently confirm this remains true today.

Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies :P

Speaking of SIG INT; a digression if I may. There is this in today's news: https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2021...20-%2020210608

Brilliant trick

they (the gang) should have just followed Elon Musk's advice:

btw, being slightly pedantic; its usually styled "SIGINT" not "SIG INT"

btw, being slightly pedantic; its usually styled "SIGINT" not "SIG INT"

True, and I know it. The toss up was a choice of the acronym and grammar. Grammar won -- sort of... :)

for me, the Acronym wins.

If the NSA or Three Letter agency want a replacement now in our time,
...they want a waterman to have a cap with. Wi-FI tag embedded and a camera ( iPhone style) to detect sounds/thermo detected frequency analyse and Amazon Alexsa /Side walk compatibility .
And also when the pen writes with the cap posted every words it Writes will be saved automatically to Fake book cloud/ Amazon cloud _BIG BROTHER. SUCKING SUCKERBERG AND APPLE CLOUD. connected through E-Musk's Star link High speed Mafia internet.:shocked:
THE TECHNOLOGY!!!! TECHNOLOGY !!!!