Richmond switching aisle photo from Technical Review

That photo brings back many memories of sweltering days and nights spent in that aisle during the early war years.  The photo was probably taken about 1942, when black shades were required to completely cover the windows, (to prevent light outlining the building at night, and becoming a target for enemy bombers).  During the war years, I worked for four years as late night traffic manager, working 7-days a week without a vacation.  This despite working with the windows closed and covered with blackout shades.  There was no air-conditioning in those days, and in the summer temperatures reached well over 100 degrees in the reperforator aisles.

I believe the gentleman in the photo is Mr. William (Bill) Towsey, who was one of the "younger" Morse operators.  Note he is wearing a white shirt with a vest, which was common attire for Morse operators.

As the volume of message traffic sent by morse code declined, the morse operators were required to perform duty as switching clerks.