In 1950 Johnny Cash was 18 and he joined the military. After a period of training in San Antonio he was shipped off to Germany for a three year tour. This was a few years after the end of WWll and we had moved from a hot to a cold war. Johnny was stationed at a listening post, intercepting messages from Russia where, according to reports, he had a natural talent for Morse Code.
Here, things get a bit tricky. According to his autobiography, Johnny wrote that while stationed there he made history. The leader of the USSR, Joseph Stalin, was in poor health which was of great interest to the West. Johnny wrote that he interpreted a communique telling of Stalin’s death, and so he became the very first American to learn that the Soviet leader had died. Due to the secrecy of his job, he couldn’t tell people of his place in history till much later.
Others, however, cast doubt on this. They pointed out that Johnny had no ability to understand Russian and would not have been able to decipher the code. This would have been done by higher-ups.
Nevertheless, he became a giant in Country Music and will be remembered for his many classics.


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