Combat Arms 2869 Grove Way Castro Valley, California 94546-6709 Telephone (415) 538-6544 October 2, 1988 American P.O.W. Communication Codes During the ugly period of time when Americans were held prisoner by the North Vietnamese, they would communicate with their fellow prisoners by means of a code tapped out on the pipes or on the walls. This enabled them to keep hope alive, engage in the necessary practice of communicating with other human beings, as well as share the latest news. Many have asked me why they simply didn't learn and use Morse code. The problem with Morse code is that it consists of both dots and dashes. When you have only a small rock or your spoon to generate the noise, the matter of creating dashes becomes obvious. If there is no way to easily distinguish the dots from the dashes, then Morse code must be ruled out. Therefore a simple code consisting of a series of taps (or dots, if you will) is used. A matrix or box 5 characters wide and 5 characters long is used to separate the letters, giving the prisoner an alphabet of 25 characters. The letter K is not used. The letter K sounds like the hard C ("kuh") and the person receiving the message should be bright enough to figure out that "centucy" means Kentucky or the "cnife" means knife. Here's what the box looks like: COLUMN 1 2 3 4 5 ÉÍÍÍÍÍÑÍÍÍÍÍÑÍÍÍÍÍÑÍÍÍÍÍÑÍÍÍÍÍ» 1 º A ³ B ³ C ³ D ³ E º ÇÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄĶ 2 º F ³ G ³ H ³ I ³ J º R ÇÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄĶ GROUP 1 O 3 º L ³ M ³ N ³ O ³ P º W ÇÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄĶ 4 º Q ³ R ³ S ³ T ³ U º ÇÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄĶ 5 º V ³ W ³ X ³ Y ³ Z º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÏÍÍÍÍÍÏÍÍÍÍÍÏÍÍÍÍÍÏÍÍÍÍͼ To find a particular letter, you look up its Row number and then its Column number. Where the two intersect, you will find the letter. For example, if you start from the left at Row 1 and come down from the top at Column 2 you will be at the letter B. To send a B, you would send its Row and Column coordinates (1 and 2). You would tap once for the Row, pause, and then tap twice for the column. The person receiving this would know you were sending the letter in Row 1, Column 2. That would be the letter B. After sending the column number (2), you would pause and start the second letter. At the end of each word, pause a little longer. A long series of taps (greater than 5 taps) would indicate that you made and error and that the material following was correct. When the person on the receiving end hears you complete a full word, he/she would send a quick two taps. This serves as feedback to you that the person is still with you and following the communication. If the person receiving the message has received enough letters to determine the word, he/she should send a quick two taps to let you know that you can proceed to the next word. If the captors holding you prisoner break your code, it is a simple matter of rearranging the letter sequence in the box to have a new code base. That requires the rest of the prisoner population to have previously been told of the method used to rearrange the letter in the box and the signal (usually using the original arrangement of the letters) that the person receiving the code should use the new arrangement. For example, you may decide that the following should be used: COLUMN 1 2 3 4 5 ÉÍÍÍÍÍÑÍÍÍÍÍÑÍÍÍÍÍÑÍÍÍÍÍÑÍÍÍÍÍ» 1 º C ³ D ³ E ³ F ³ G º ÇÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄĶ 2 º H ³ I ³ J ³ L ³ M º R ÇÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄĶ GROUP 2 O 3 º N ³ O ³ P ³ Q ³ R º W ÇÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄĶ 4 º S ³ T ³ U ³ V ³ W º ÇÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄĶ 5 º X ³ Y ³ Z ³ A ³ B º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÏÍÍÍÍÍÏÍÍÍÍÍÏÍÍÍÍÍÏÍÍÍÍͼ It is even better if there is a logic to the letter arrangement. For example, you might decide to call the "regular" arrangement of letters in the box "Group 1." Group 2 might be arranged so that the first letter of the box would be the number of the month with the rest of the letters following in their regular order. For example, if it were March (3rd month), then the third letter in the alphabet (C) would be at Row 1, Column 1. The letters following would be in their regular order. This is what has been done in the second example. November (the 11th month) would cause L to be in Row 1, Column 1. You would then tell the person receiving the code to "use group 2" and give them a few minutes to mentally calculate the letter arrangement. They should not draw the box out unless it was in dirt that could be quickly destroyed. Too simple? Right, because complex things are easily confused or forgotten. If you wanted to increase the complexity, you could arrange the first three letters to equal the three letter abbreviation for the month. If it were July, the box would look like this: COLUMN 1 2 3 4 5 ÉÍÍÍÍÍÑÍÍÍÍÍÑÍÍÍÍÍÑÍÍÍÍÍÑÍÍÍÍÍ» 1 º J ³ U ³ L ³ A ³ B º ÇÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄĶ 2 º C ³ D ³ E ³ F ³ G º R ÇÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄĶ GROUP 3 O 3 º H ³ I ³ M ³ N ³ O º W ÇÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄĶ 4 º P ³ Q ³ R ³ S ³ T º ÇÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄÄÅÄÄÄÄĶ 5 º V ³ W ³ X ³ Y ³ Z º ÈÍÍÍÍÍÏÍÍÍÍÍÏÍÍÍÍÍÏÍÍÍÍÍÏÍÍÍÍͼ Prisoners would be required to know something simple, like the month, in order to determine the correct box layout. If you use common abbreviations, by dropping vowels or at least some of them, then the code is more difficult to break by someone whose native language is different from yours. Notice that I said "difficult," not impossible. The purpose of the code is to permit communications when speech is not possible. It is not the purpose to maintain utmost secrecy in these communications. The variety of methods to transmit this code are not limited to tapping on a wall or pipe. Body movements can send code, such as a finger apparently idly tapping on a desk, blinking, head nodding, the beat of a broom as it is used to sweep floors, etc. Shrugs can mean acknowledgement, scratching one's nose can mean "no," pulling the ear lobe can be used to signify "yes," etc. With a minimum of practice, you can become quite proficient. Be careful not to develop the bad habit of sending faster that the other person can receive the information. If you have other suggestions, please let me hear about them. Thank you and I hope you never have to use this material. Here is a message for you to translate using the Group 1 box. Each dot represents one tap. There is a single space between the two elements making up the letter (... ..... means the letter P), three spaces between complete letters and eight spaces between words. .. .. ... .... . .... . .. ... . . ..... .... ... .... ... . . ... .. . ..... .... .. .. .... . ... . . Here is another message also using the Group 1 box. .... .... .. ... . ..... .... .. . ..... . . .... .. . ..... ... ... ... .... . .... . ..... ... .. ... .... . ... .... .. . . .... .... .... ... .. .... ... ... . . .. . ... .... ..... ... .. ... ... .... . ... . ..... Finally, let's pretend it is July and that we are using code Group 3 for our communications. .... . .. ... . .... .. . .. ... .... ..... ... . .... ... . .. .... .... . .. .... . .. ... .... ... ... .. ... ..... .... ... .. .... ... .. .... ... .. ... .... . ... ..... ..... .. .. ... .... ... Richard M. 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