Club members visit Cold War Museum and Winery on historic site

Members of the National Press Club and its affiliated American Legion Post 20 enjoyed a private tour of the Cold War Museum at Vint Hill, Virginia, June 21. Vint Hill Farms Station, in Fauquier County, was also known as Monitoring Station No. 1, and it served as a top secret signals intelligence base during World War II and the Cold War. Vint Hill Farms Station was decommissioned in 1997.

The tour included a wine tasting at Vint Hill Craft Winery, located in a historic barn where signals personnel intercepted critical intelligence during World War II. During a presentation at the winery, museum staff described how the station picked up communications from the Japanese ambassador to Nazi Germany that described German defenses in Normandy. Ambassador Hiroshi Oshima did not realize his transmissions were monitored and that the "Purple" code had been broken. The Vint Hill station intercepted a 20-page report on the locations of German units and weaponry. The report enabled Allied commanders to revise their battle plans for the D-Day invasion.