
There is perhaps no better answer to this question than the story of Brother John Bergmann, 99 years old and a 60-year member of Community Lodge, No. 684, in Columbus, Ohio.
Brother Bergmann served as a codebreaker during World War II. Early in the war, he lost an eye to combat in the Burma – China Theater while on a secret mission with Army Rangers. He then served for the rest of the war in Maryland with occasional trips to London to speak with his counterparts. His work put him in contact with General Dwight Eisenhower, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and the famous mathematician – codebreaker, Alan Touring. His unit helped decipher Japanese and German messages and win the war. Today, the public knows about the Enigma Machine, the Colossus Computer, and the Turing Bombe code breaking computers. But for many years, long after the war, these were secrets.
Brother Bergmann kept these secrets from everyone – family and friends alike – until 1983. For thirty-eight years, he had a cover story about his military service and his injuries. It was only after the government lifted the restrictions that his story became known, and he began to share his experiences with veteran’s groups, schools, and others. In 2017, he was interviewed for the Veterans History Project of the Cincinnati Hamilton County Public Library. That interview can be seen on YouTube with a simple search for “Veterans History Project John Bergmann.”
