Corporal Gillen served with his team of 20 soldiers on the border between East Germany and Russia in 1952 and 1953. The mission was surveillance of Soviet military maneuvers. Before coming to the border he had been trained in cryptography and had been chosen to spend six months learning the Russian language. The work was done from huts built on trucks, containing radio equipment. They occasionally made mistakes and slipped over the border, there were some close calls, and there was always a sense of danger, but Bob was excited about being there and doing that: “Of course, I was 20 years old!”
Bob had left Hofstra University in 1951 to enlist in the Army and serve his country. Upon discharge from the Army in 1953 he enrolled in Johns Hopkins University. In January of 1955 he joined the National Security Agency and for 35 years found ways, in his words, “to be useful.” He credits his Army service for that. He feels he was blessed with the good fortune to have those opportunities which opened the door for him to have such a successful career. He is proud of having served.
