Seventy-nine years ago this month, the Signal Corps laboratories at Fort Monmouth and Camp Evans, broke new scientific ground with Project Diana, making the first "space communication" between the Earth and the moon. One of the individuals most closely associated with Project Diana is Dr. Walter McAfee, a servant-leader who embodied the ideals of service - to his community, the mission, and the Nation. Dr. McAfee encouraged those he mentored in his work environment also to extend their hands in support more broadly.
Dr. McAfee had a long and varied professional career. After earning his Master's degree, he taught general science and math in secondary schools in Columbus, Ohio from 1937-42. He joined the Army Signal Corps Radar Laboratory at Camp Evans in 1942, where he was employed as a physicist in the theoretical studies unit of the Engineering Laboratories, Army Electronics Research Command. He gained special recognition in 1946 while with Project Diana at the Evans Signal Laboratory. This small team of scientists helped put man's imprint on the moon for the first time with radar. This experiment made headlines on January 10, 1946, when the first contact occurred between Earth and its satellite. Project Diana bounced an electronic echo from the moon's surface to an antenna at the Evans Signal Laboratory. McAfee's theoretical calculations determined the feasibility of this original radar "moon bounce."
Dr. McAfee held numerous supervisory positions during his 42 years at Fort Monmouth, where he guided the development of new technologies and the scientists who worked on them. He believed in cross-training and helped develop and teach Internal Training Program classes available to anyone interested. He continued to serve his community, both during and after his professional career, focusing on education and creating opportunities. He taught senior and first-year graduate courses in physics and electronics engineering at Monmouth University, and supervised master's thesis work through 1975. His long dedication to both the Army and his community inspired others who worked with him to reach out to serve the local community, with a specific focus on expanding educational opportunities.
Many of the Fort Monmouth community's African American engineers and technicians dedicated their time and resources to education. Leroy Hutson, Thomas Baldwin, Benjamin Bluford, and Curtis Murphy founded a tutoring program in 1962, along with Mrs. McAfee. They were later joined by other employees, including Darby Brooks and Thomas Daniels, who would become an SES as director of the Combat Surveillance and Target Acquisition Laboratory. Focused on their local community, they provided weekly tutoring and mentoring to middle and high school students who chose to come to the tutoring sessions. They emphasized the importance of showing students that people who looked like them and had similar backgrounds could succeed through education. They also offered a specialized course in electronics engineering. "This course was started to provide our youth with a hobby and to arouse interest in the electronics field. We are not trying to develop engineers maybe not even technicians. We are trying to arouse their interest in electronics to make them want to dig deeper. I think it will shape their future lives along the lines of electronics," Mr. Hutson said. These efforts continue to resonate across the community, affecting generations of people. In 2014, Daniels was recognized with a Trailblazer Award in his New Jersey community, for the roots he helped establish in the 1960s that continued to bear fruit well into the 21st century.
Many other employees found additional ways to serve the community, including Corleza Holimon, Mary Tate, Jimmie Hastie, Elizabeth Williams, and Corrynne Godwin, who all are frequently mentioned in the pages of the Monmouth Message, serving many populations across the community, but especially in creating opportunities for children and women. They were pioneers at Fort Monmouth – for example, Corrynne Goodwin served as an electronic engineer for the U.S. Army Electronics Command (ECOM – a predecessor to CECOM), one of the first female engineers at Fort Monmouth, and one of two African American female engineers to attain a senior engineer position. She was also the passive devices team leader in the components control center, electronic devices branch. Mary Tate was an ECOM mathematician and a member of the Mathematics Support Brach of the Computer-Aided Design Engineering and Mathematics Support Division. Her research concentrated on numerical analysis and digital computer program development, and computer methods. Whether providing funds for extra activities for school children or supporting the growing role of women in the workforce with the Toastmistress Club, these women sought to use their knowledge and experience as Army employees to serve the greater good.
This legacy of mentoring continues today at CECOM, with ever-expanding opportunities for the workforce to become involved in developing the next generation of Army civilians.
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