The Dayton Codebreakers Production Team

Aileen LeBlanc is a journalist, producer and director whose work in television, film and public radio has earned more than 40 regional and national awards. Her documentary Dayton Codebreakers is slated to air on public television stations nationwide in April, 2006.

After an initial career in theatre as a lighting designer, LeBlanc began her broadcasting life as a weekend cameraman for the local news at an ABC affiliate in Wilmington NC. Over the next 11 years she worked her way through positions in public service, promotions and creative service and into management at a CBS affiliate. For two years she ran and co-owned an advertising/marketing agency.

LeBlanc then applied for a production job in public radio and instead was given her own show Sounds Local which she produced and hosted for seven years. She brought the program to Ohio in 1999 when she was hired at WYSO as News Director. Her public radio work has been heard on NPR, RTE, CBC, Monitor Radio, Pacifica and Voice of America.

One report that she did for Sounds Local and NPR was the story of top secret codebreaking operations in Dayton, Ohio during WWII. This led her to get back into video and to the production of her first film

Producer/Director: Aileen LeBlanc

Associate Producer/Research
Deborah Anderson

In 2002, when she and Aileen LeBlanc were discussing the possibility of producing a short video, Debbie Anderson never foresaw the roller coaster ride upon which they were about to embark.

Debbie Desch Anderson had tracked down as much of the story of her father's World War II work as she could in the years following his death. By 2000 she had a collection of facts, anecdotes, declassified documents and had established contacts across the country through her efforts in the 1995 Reunion. After the 2001 Reunion of the USNCML veterans, as the movie Enigma premiered, Aileen contacted the Montgomery County Historical Society for information about the Dayton connection, consequently met Debbie, and their adventures began.

Through determination, luck, stubborness, the loyalty of friends and the generosity of many here in Dayton, Florida, Washington DC and across the ocean in Great Britain, Dayton Codebreakers became a reality in April 2005.

Andeson wants to continue to develop this web site and to preserve the many stories of the project's veterans (and enjoy her grandchildren!).

Music composition and performance:
Sandy and Michael Bashaw

Soundtrack now released!

Since the turn of the 20th century, Dayton, Ohio has been home to inventors and innovation. In that same spirit, Michael and Sandy Bashaw create original and innovative music and art. Michael and Sandy play original, jazz-flavored roots music with a repertoire that is traditional and experimental.

As artists, the Bashaws perform, compose, teach and create art in many different configurations and venues: They work together as a duet, collaborating on song composition and film scores, as well as performing at small clubs and coffeehouses. Their Puzzle of Light ensemble includes a bass player and/or percussionist. For special events, college concerts and performing arts venues they present the Sound Sculpture Concert using large-scale experimental sculptural instruments (Sound Sculptures) designed and built by Michael.

Concert highlights: 2004 Concert performance with Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, Bosnian National Theatre, Bosnia i Herzegovina. Michael and Sandy performed an original composition with the Globow Sound Sculpture, October 2004. Concert performance in Split, Croatia, Night of Fusion October, 2004. Concert with the Kettering Childrens Choir at the Schuster Performing Arts Center, Dayton, OH, premiering GongSla sculpture. 2003 Sound Sculpture Concert, Grand Theater, Wausau WI. Schuster Performing Arts Center, Grand Opening, Dayton, OH Sound Sculpture Concert, Meredith College, Raleigh, NC Sound Sculpture Concert, Troy, OH Sculpture Festival Bio-Blitz, biodiversity conference, Mason, OH, trio performance Sound Sculpture Concert, Dayton Sister Cities event, Dayton, OH Sound Sculpture Installation, Lancaster Festival, Lancaster, OH Fraze Pavilion Summer Concert series, Kettering, OH International Sculpture Center awards ceremony, Cincinnati, OH 2002 Sound Sculpture Concert, Kuss Auditorium, Clark State Community Colleges Performing Arts Series. Sound Sculpture Concert with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra at Memorial Hall in Dayton, OH.

Sound: John Mays

Archival footage: Brian Springer

Editorial consultant: Jim Klein

Historical consultant: Eric Rust