Sgt. Tom Collins Is Honored for Key WW2 Role Memorial Day, 2010 - My neighbor Thomas L. Collins, a lifetime resident of East Hampton, has been honored both by the British and the American Governments.
Sgt. Collins brought the Dragon 1 Cryptography Machine to Bletchley Park, trained British cryptographers and technicians in how to use it, and stayed to take care of it and make sure it did its cryptographic job. Since his mission was top secret, he couldn't talk about it until the 1990s.
Now Bletchley Park is a public museum and Tom can talk about his mission - and be honored for it:
- In July 2009, he was awarded a UK Certificate of Appreciation and Medal for his participation in the important Bletchley Park cryptography program. The medal and certificate arrived in March 2010. - The Friday before Memorial Day 2010, Congressman Timothy Bishop read into the Congressional Record a tribute to Sergeant Collins. It is reproduced below.
The "Sam Scram" nickname that Sgt. Collins's colleagues at Bletchley Park gave him came from an American character by that name on a popular wartime radio show.
