NORTH CHESTERVILLE – A World War II veteran who assisted in carrying out a top secret mission that helped shorten the war, was recognized Saturday night by the Maine Legislature at the North Chesterville Grange.

Roger Lane, 85, of Fayette, also was awarded the Non Commissioned Officers Association Patriot Medallion of Honor and Remembrance – called the Greatest Generation Medal – for his heroic virtues displayed under extraordinary circumstances.

“I do a lot of these, but this one was one I’ll never forget, because I touched a real hero tonight,” Rep. Tom Saviello of Wilton said after awarding the medal and a Maine Legislative Sentiment to Lane.

“I never expected to get one, because I thought they just gave them to the ones who made the headlines,” Lane said of the medal.

Ironically, it took a “secret mission” by his relatives to get Lane to the Grange, where he got the surprise of his life.

“I had no idea what was going on. A neighbor called and said we’d been invited to supper (at the Grange). I thought it would be something about the Grange, because I was active with the Readfield Grange, but I used to go to the Wilton Grange before they closed that.”

Inducted in Nov. 1942, Lane, the youngest boy in a family of 12, said he served 38 months in the Signal Corp from July 1, 1943, to Sept. 30, 1945. He was trained as a code clerk to send top secret messages between commanders. It wasn’t what the farmhand from Chesterville expected after getting drafted.

“I thought I was going to get a job truck driving, but I expected to be in the infantry,” Lane said.

Assigned to a fixed radio station, he was sent to the South Pacific. While in Australia, Lane was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Armed Forces in the Far East, which was reorganized after evacuation from Corregidor. Most of his work here was very secret.

He was then assigned to the Secret Intelligence Service when it was first organized and served as chief operator and message center chief.

As a noncommissioned officer in charge of a group of men, Sgt. Lane was assigned to the Royal Canadian Forces in the Pacific. His job was to set up and instruct men in the operation of a distinct type of Radio Teletype Station.

When that job was completed, he served at Moratai with the Royal Air Force, Leyte, and then joined the parent organization at San Miguel, Luzon.

His job also shifted to that of intercepting Japanese code and breaking it down, but Lane said he never got to see any messages that were translated due to the secrecy at the time; secrets that are just now being written about by authors, he said.

Lane also helped to start and build up the high-speed Radio Teletype Section, working with men and women of practically every branch of the U.S., British, Australian and New Zealand forces.

“We wasn’t allowed anywhere near the action. Our unit was always tucked in. We were told that if we were captured and got interrogated, we were to say that we were with Mess Kit Repair. The machine I had to guard with my life is now in (U.S.) Army Security Agency museum in Washington, D.C.,” Lane said.

He was on orders for duty in Japan when he returned to the U.S. for discharge under the point system in Jan. 1946.

“I expected I’d be serving for a couple of more years before we popped up with the (atomic) bomb. I knew that if I ever got on the (Japan) mainland, it would be a helluva mess,” he said.

After being discharged, Lane received a letter from a Gen. Aiken, entitling him to the Army Commendation Ribbon. In part, the letter thanked Lane for being an outstanding member of Central Bureau.

“You have assisted in carrying out a mission whose value has been recognized by the theater authorities as a distinct aid towards shortening the war,” Aiken wrote.

Lane was also awarded the Asiatic Pacific Ribbon with two bronze service stars, Good Conduct Medal and Victory Medal.

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