Codebreaking the Glass Ceiling:
Women on the Frontier of WWII Cryptanalysis
Falter, John Phillip. On the same team - Enlist in the WAVES. Hennepin County Library. 1943.
With the messages that female cryptanalysts labored to decipher, the U.S. navy could anticipate their opponents’ plans, avoiding many attacks. By working at the frontier of military cryptanalysis, thousands of women led to the United States’ success in World War II. Codebreaker Virginia D. Aderholt decrypted the message signaling the war’s end.
WAVES officer Judy Parsons explained that while a successful cryptanalyst, it was upsetting that her work led to deaths, even if those deaths were of those on an opposing side.
The little-known story of the Navy women codebreakers who helped Allied forces win WWII. CNN. August
2020.
Ada Nestor,
certificate of service from the Military Intelligence Division War Department. Nestor Family.
WAVES officers like Ada D. Nestor and Genevieve Grotjan were later commended for effective work and dedication.
The work of all of these individuals demonstrated the potential heights working women and cryptology could reach.
Genevieve Grotjan
Feinstein: 2010 Hall of Honor Inductee Women in American Cryptology Honoree. National Security
Agency.