Undercover: Breaking and Entering

Tom: And when I had done several undercover jobs, and he was talking to a group when I wasn’t there, and he must have kind of over-described me, because one of the fellows said “we was going on so much about you I thought you was something — you just an ordinary fellow.” [chuckles]

So one of my jobs was to go to a fort and break into anything I could. Don’t put myself in a way of getting shot, but anything I could do by finessing it — in other words, don’t slip under a fence, figure out a way to get in the front door, and don’t get myself in a position where I get somebody shooting at me. And I got just a number of things that were a little bit difficult to do, but we got them done.

For example, I went downtown and bought an officer’s uniform, bought a major’s insignia.

Then I got the newspaper and clipped out one of the top general’s depiction, posted it in my ID, went to the front gate, pulled out this and I said — I told him I was going somewhere and I just held it out and he said “Yes sir!” and away I went. [laughter]

Well, one thing, they had a rule that officers at headquarters all left their keys in the car, so I took the top general’s car and drove it all over the post. And I had — I don’t know what rank I gave myself, but they were drilling soldiers and I pulled over the side of the road to let them come by, there must have been fifty in the marching group and they all saluted as they went by and I saluted back. [chuckles]

There was top secret documents in one of the rooms, and I waited until the classroom was in there and giving all this information, and I was a major at that time, and I walked in and interrupted the teacher and said “Excuse me just a minute, but go ahead with your class, I just have a couple things I have to get.” That’s the only time the vault was open, so I turned and got to the safe, fumbled through, and the only thing I was looking for was if it said “top secret.” So I pulled about four or five of them, thanked the officer and left with them in my hand. Got downtown and called the intelligence officer and said “I got these documents downtown, you want them?”

But I did that for a couple of years, just one thing or another.