title: Oral History Interview with Sanford Hunt, May 1, 1993
creator: Hunt, Sanford
publisher: National Museum of the Pacific War
date: 1993-05-01
language: English
description: The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview
 with Sanford Hunt. Hunt was born in Newark, New Jersey on 18 October 1915 and
 after graduating from high school in 1934, joined the Naval Reserve as a
 radioman. In October 1940 he resigned from the Navy Reserves and enlisted in
 the Marine Corps Reserve. He was sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as a radio
 operator, where he worked with Holland M. Smith. He was next transferred to
 the newly established Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and was trained as a
 cryptographer and cipher machine repairman. He describes his role in setting
 up and operating a radio transmitter station on Guadalcanal. While there, he
 worked closely with Major General Alexander Vandegrift and Brigadier General
 Gerald C. Thomas, Commanding General and Chief of Staff of the First Marine
 Division, respectively. The three of them were the only Marines on Guadalcanal
 authorized access to ULTRA message traffic (intelligence obtained by breaking
 encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter messages). Upon returning to Pearl
 Harbor he was given a field commission to second lieutenant. Hunt accompanied
 General Vandegrift to Noumea, New Caledonia as Special Assistant and Chief of
 Staff for Special Traffic and Messages, until Vandegrift was recalled to
 Washington as Commandant of the Marine Corps. His next assignment was as the
 Third Marine Division communications officer during the landing at
 Bougainville.
subject: World War, 1939-1945
subject: People - Individuals
subject: Military and War - Wars - World War II
subject: Interviews
subject: Oral histories
subject: Personal narratives
subject: Autobiographies
subject: Biographies
subject: WWII
subject: United States. Marine Corps Reserve
subject: Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (Cuba)
subject: Smith, Holland M. (Holland McTyeire), 1882-1967
subject: Cryptography
subject: United States. Marine Corps. Division, 1st
subject: Vandegrift, A. A. (Alexander Archer), 1887-1973
subject: Thomas, Gerald C. (Gerald Carthrae), 1894-1984
subject: World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Solomon Islands -- Guadalcanal
subject: World War, 1939-1945 -- New Caledonia
subject: United States. Marine Corps. Division, 3rd
subject: World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Papua New Guinea -- Bougainville
 Island
subject: ULTRA (Intelligence system)
rights: Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives
rights: Commercial use is prohibited without permission from the National Museum
 of the Pacific War.
type: Text
format: 8 p.
format: Text
identifier: local-cont-no: OH00142
identifier: https://texashistory.unt.edu./ark:/67531/metapth1603503/
identifier: ark: ark:/67531/metapth1603503