KB6ILT 1939 Guam

Operator: Rodney Loring Whitten, LT(JG) U.S. Navy (1931-1947), W4BI, ex-KB6ILT, K6ILT, W6ILT, KA6RL (Manilla), W0FUA
Silent Key (April 12, 1912 - Sept. 11, 2010).

His obit mentions he was an Ham as early as 1927. I found no record of him in 1923-1931 callbooks.

Rodney L. Whitten, age 98, of Joplin, Mo., formerly of Cape Coral, Fla., passed away early Saturday morning, Sept. 11, 2010, at Freeman Hospital in Joplin. Rodney was born April 22, 1912, in Lakesbury, Ark., the son of Charles and Nettie (Green) Whitten. Rodney joined the U.S. Navy in 1931, and was a member of the "On-The-Roof-Gang," O.R.T.G. Class No. 16, 1935, serving as a radioman, intercepting and decoding enemy messages in a number of intercept stations. These included Bainbridge, Astoria, Hesia, Shanghai, Corregidor, and Wahiawa. This group of dedicated and skilled operators formed the vanguard of the U.S. Naval Communications Intelligence efforts and laid the cornerstone of Naval Cryptology. Rodney was serving as a radioman on the flagship U.S.S. Pennsylvania, stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the infamous morning of Dec. 7, 1941, where he had been intercepting and decoding Japanese radio transmissions until a few days before the attack. Rodney and the Pennsylvania survived the attacks of that fateful morning. He continued to serve his country until 1947, when he retired from the Navy at the rank of lieutenant junior grade. After his Navy career, Rodney worked for a number of companies and organizations. These included Vickers Inc., Rocketdyne, Lowrance Electronics, Miami Dade Junior College and the Florida State Emergency Management Agency. Rodney and his wife owned and operated Whitten's House of Wigs from 1968 to 1972, and then retired in Southwest Florida. Rodney, call sign W4BI, was a licensed amateur radio operator since 1927, held an FCC First Class Radio Telegraph license and was a former member of the ARRL, Cape Coral and Florida Gold Coast radio clubs. He was a life member of the U.S. Naval Cryptologic Veterans Association and the Military Officers Association of America. Rodney was a very proficient high speed Morse code operator and message handler who kept in frequent contact with his son, Mel, via ham radio, for over 45 years. Rodney recently moved back to Joplin, where he and his wife lived with his daughter. He married Virginia Parsons in 1941, in Bentonville, Ark., and recently celebrated their 69th wedding anniversary.

QSL from the estate of W5BGP / W5IO
Courtesy of W5KNE
Info courtesy of W5KNE