The previous articles have focused on two of the most well-known American female code-breakers of the early twentieth century: Elizebeth Friedman and Agnes Meyer Driscoll. This article will look at some of the others from the US, whose efforts, intellect, and skills played a large part in deciphering enemy codes. It is estimated that around 10,000 women worked as code breakers during World War II, but it seems that nearly all of them have been forgotten as their male colleagues took most of the credit and fame. It is only the past few years that, thanks to several books, their exploits are becoming known and celebrated again. Sadly, it is impossible to detail every one of them in these articles. Therefore, I hope that, by writing about some of them, we can honor the many.
Genevieve Grotjan
Born in 1913, Genevieve displayed a great aptitude and passion for mathematics and Latin at a young age.[1] She graduated with a degree in mathematics from the University of Buffalo in 1936 and, after a period of teaching, was hired by William Friedman to work as a cryptanalyst for the US Army in 1939.[2] Just over a year later in September 1940, it was Genevieve who achieved the crucial breakthrough that made it possible to decipher the Japanese diplomatic code known as ‘Purple.’ It was information gained from decoding Purple that contributed to the US victory at the Battle of Medway in 1942. After her discovery of how the code worked, Genevieve was promoted within the Army Signals Intelligence Service (SIS) and given a pay rise. After marrying Hyman I. Feinstein in 1943, she was out to work on deciphering Soviet codes in an operation that came to be known as ‘Verona.’ Once again, she proved her worth by recognizing the re-use of a key in the messages, a discovery which soon led to the SIS being able to decipher communications from the Russian KGB.[3] She resigned from her work for the government in 1947 and went back to teaching again, becoming a professor of mathematics at George Mason University.[4] She died in 2006 and was posthumously inducted into the NSA Hall of Honor in 2010.[5]
Ann Caracristi
Ann started work as a cryptanalyst with the SIS in 1942. She trained under William Friedman and was set to work on deciphering Japanese codebooks. She was among the first to learn of Japan’s intention to surrender.[6] After the war, she started work for what would later become known as the National Security Agency (NSA). Unlike many of the female codebreakers, whose star tended to fade after the war, Ann’s career blossomed. In 1959, she was promoted to a higher pay grade, and in 1975 became Chief of Research and Operations, becoming the first woman to attain GS-18 – the highest super-grade in the NSA.[7] She broke another glass ceiling in 1980 by becoming the first female NSA Deputy Director and also received the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award.[8] She officially retired in 1982 but continued to serve on intelligence panels. After a prestigious career, Ann Caracristi died in 2016.
Wilma Z. Davis
Wilma was born in 1912 in West Virginia and graduated with a degree in mathematics in 1932. Her first job was in teaching, which she continued until her marriage to John Berryman in 1936. The newlyweds moved to Washington, DC.[9] Even before she began her work with the government, Wilma was fascinated with cryptology, an obsession that started when she read an article about William and Elizebeth Friedman in The Washington Star. Her brother-in-law, a civil servant, helped her to enroll in some Navy correspondence courses in the subject, which she passed with flying colors.[10] After taking the Civil Service exam while working for the National Bureau of Aeronautics, she was offered a job as a cryptanalyst by William Friedman in either 1937 or 1938.
Her first task was to work with Dr. Abe Sinkov on deciphering Italian diplomatic codes. To her, this work was both simple and enjoyable. But it wasn’t all fun, as her husband died just a few months after she started. The team rallied around her, and she recalled that William Friedman was ‘so nice to me.’[11] In 1942, she was reassigned to work on Japanese military codes with Colonel Soloman ‘Kully’ Kullback and others at Arlington Hall. They were placed in a room by themselves and told to stay there until they’d broken the code. Although it was Frank Lewis who finally had the breakthrough, Wilma stayed diligently at her post and, in 1944, became the head of Department A, the department responsible for Japanese code breaking.[12] She remained with this department for the rest of the war.
After the war, she was reassigned again, this time to deciphering Chinese codes. However, this was not as happy a time for her as, after a few months, she found herself on the edge of a nervous breakdown.[13] Once she had recovered, Wilma was transferred to Russian code breaking. She started working on a project named Venona, which involved intercepting and attempting to break both Russian diplomatic and espionage communications. Wilma found herself working in a team that included Venona’s first cryptologist on the project, Gene Grabeel, and Elizebeth Friedman. Progress in some areas was slow but, eventually, they managed to crack the code used by GRU (later the KGB), leading to the later exposure of Soviet agents.
In 1949, Wilma married again – to John Manson – and left her job at Arlington Hall to move to Canada. However, once again, tragedy struck when Manson died three years later. On hearing the news, Friedman wrote to her and offered her old job back on the Venona project. She accepted and worked there for the next decade until her third marriage to Lieutenant General John J. Davis, Assistant Director for Production (equivalent to today’s Signals Intelligence Director.[14]) She had to take a short break in 1960 to deal with family matters, but returned to code breaking to help support her country during the Vietnam War.
Wilma finally retired in 1973 and died, aged 89, on December 10, 2001. She was buried next to her husband in Arlington National Cemetery.[15] In an article written ‘In Memoriam’ to Wilma, Ann Caracristi, one of her protégées, called her ‘one of the Founding Mothers of cryptology.’
It must not be forgotten that breaking enemy codes was not only carried out in the US. A large proportion of code breaking was also done at Bletchley Park in England. And Bletchley Park, too, had brilliant women whose efforts led to the saving of many lives and the shortening of World War II. The next article will look at some of them – affectionately known as ‘The Bletchley Girls.’
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[1] Ann Whitcher Gentzke, ‘An American Hero,’ AtBuffalo, Fall 2018, accessed at http://www.buffalo.edu/atbuffalo/article-page-spring-2018.host.html/content/shared/www/atbuffalo/articles/Spring-2018/features/an-american-hero.detail.html
[2] ‘Genevieve Grotjan Feinstein,’ NSA, accessed at https://www.nsa.gov/About-Us/Current-Leadership/Article-View/Article/1621585/genevieve-grotjan-feinstein/
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ann Whitcher Gentzke, ‘An American Hero,’ AtBuffalo, Fall 2018, accessed at http://www.buffalo.edu/atbuffalo/article-page-spring-2018.host.html/content/shared/www/atbuffalo/articles/Spring-2018/features/an-american-hero.detail.html
[5] ‘Genevieve Grotjan Feinstein,’ NSA, accessed at https://www.nsa.gov/About-Us/Current-Leadership/Article-View/Article/1621585/genevieve-grotjan-feinstein/
[6] Madalyn Weston, ‘Celebrating Women in STEM: Ann Caracristi,’ University News, 02/22/2018, accessed at https://info.umkc.edu/unews/celebrating-women-in-stem-ann-caracristi/
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] ‘Cryptologic Almanac 50th Anniversary Series, Wilma Z. Davis,’ NSA, accessed at https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/70/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/crypto-almanac-50th/Wilma_Z._Davis.pdf
[10] Ibid.
[11] ‘Oral History Interview with Mrs Wilma Davis, 3 Dec 1982 by RD Farley,’ NSA, 11/16/1988, accessed at https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/70/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/oral-history-interviews/nsa-oh-25-82-davis.pdf
[12] Lisa Tendrich Frank, ‘Davis, Wilma Zimmerman (1912-2001),’ An Encyclopedia of American Women at War: From the Home Front to the Battlefields, 01/17/2013, accessed on Google Books Online at https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=nn7Dj6qUn6kC&printsec=copyright&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=wilma%20davis&f=false
[13] ‘Oral History Interview with Mrs Wilma Davis, 3 Dec 1982 by RD Farley,’ NSA, 11/16/1988, accessed at https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/70/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/oral-history-interviews/nsa-oh-25-82-davis.pdf
[14] ‘Cryptologic Almanac 50th Anniversary Series, Wilma Z. Davis, NSA accessed at https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/70/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/crypto-almanac-50th/Wilma_Z._Davis.pdf
[15] Ibid.
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