P.O. Box 1142

In 1942, the federal government worked to transform a park and picnic area into a secret military installation known only by its mailing address. The people who worked there were forbidden to discuss their duties, and some even now have taken those secrets to the grave.

What did they do at P.O. Box 1142? They interrogated German POWs, in some cases before the Red Cross was advised of their capture.

Now, working through information gleaned from declassified WW2 records, a National Parks Service ranger is racing against time to take down oral histories of the people who worked there.

Incredible. P.O. Box 1142 alums lived only miles away from each other for years, and never knew. It’s fascinating to consider what those interrogators might have learned that advanced our war effort, both then and during the Cold War.