Virginia Dare Aderholdt

Virginia Dare Aderholdt was an Arlington Hall cryptanalyst and Japanese translator, who decrypted the intercepted Japanese surrender message, August 14, 1945.

Virginia Dare Aderholdt
Virginia Aderholdt, 1927
BornJuly 24, 1910
Shenandoah, Virginia
DiedJuly 16, 1997
Charlotte, North Carolina
NationalityAmerican
Other namesVirginia Dare Larsen
Occupationcryptanalyst
Known fordecrypting Japanese surrender message, August 14, 1945
Spouse(s)Paul Wehrmeister McDole (m 1957-1969, his death)
Aksel Christian Larsen

Early years

Virginia was the daughter of Oscar Wrey Aderholdt, a Lutheran clergyman, and Genolia Ethel Powlas. Aged 10, Virginia performed music for the wedding of her aunt.[1] As a twelve-year-old student, Virginia took third place in a state spelling competition.[2] Virginia graduated with honors from Wyandotte High School, studied at Mitchell Community College in Statesville, Lenoir–Rhyne University in Hickory, Bethany College (West Virginia),[3] and Teachers College, Columbia University. Virginia also studied at the Biblical Seminary in New York and the Tokyo School of Japanese Language and Culture in Tokyo. She was a grade school teacher, and taught at the Kansas State School for the Blind. She spent four years in Japan.[4]

Cryptanalyst
Truman announces Japan's surrender, August 14, 1945

During World War II, Aderholdt worked at Arlington Hall decrypting and translating Japanese messages, particularly those in an older diplomatic code, JAH. Because she was fluent in Japanese, she could decrypt and translate simultaneously.[5][6] At noon, August 14, 1945, Arlington Hall received an intercept in JAH from Tokyo to the Japanese Embassy in Bern, Switzerland, announcing the Japanese surrender. Aderholdt decrypted and translated the message, which was sent in Japanese and English. The decrypt was telephoned to military intelligence, and at 7 p.m. that evening, President Harry Truman announced the surrender. The war was over.

Later years

Aderholdt was the only musical missionary sent to Japan by the United Lutheran Church in America. She worked for ten years in Japan as a musical training teacher at the Shokei College School for Girls at Kumamoto, Japan. [4] In November 1957 she delivered a talk on her work at United Lutheran Church, Langley Park, Maryland.[7] She was married to Paul Wehrmeister McDole, a music teacher, and Aksel Christian Larsen, a Lutheran minister. She died of pancreatic cancer in 1997.[8]

References
  1. "Hickory daily record. (Hickory, N.C.) 1915-current, August 07, 1920". Hickory Daily Record. 5 (270). Hickory, North Carolina. 1920-08-07. p. 3, col. 4. ISSN 1061-5628. Retrieved 2020-03-28. Peery-Powlas: ... Mendelssohn's march was sounded for the entrance. ... The music was furnished by little ten-year-old Virginia Aderholdt, niece of the bride.
  2. "(no title)". The News & Observer. Raleigh, North Carolina. 30 November 1922. p. 1. Cite uses generic title (help)
  3. Comins, Linda (21 April 2019). "'Code Girls' Included Bethanians". Archived from the original on 27 October 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2020. While many of Arlington Hall’s language units were headed up by j-boys, JAH [a Japanese code] was handled by a woman named Virginia Dare Aderholdt. According to a memo, Aderholdt graduated from Bethany College in West Virginia — Wilma Berryman’s alma mater — which was a four-year college founded by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and offered a first-rate language department and a commitment to good causes. Many graduates did missionary work abroad. Virginia Aderholdt had spent four years in Japan, and the JAH code now was her baby. She owned that code.
  4. "Music Missionary to Speak". Rocky Mount Telegram. Rocky Mount, North Carolina. 4 December 1954. p. 2.
  5. Mundy, Liza (10 October 2017). Code girls : the untold story of the American women code breakers of World War II (Second prt. ed.). New York. pp. 326–329. ISBN 978-0-316-35253-6. OCLC 972386321.
  6. McNaughton, James C. (2006). "Chapter 7; MIS Nisei Serving in the Continental United States, 1943–1945; Signals Intelligence" (PDF). Nisei Linguists : Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service during World War II. Washington, DC. pp. 214–215. ISBN 0-16-072957-2. OCLC 70149258. The Army and Navy developed impressive capabilities, codenamed Magic, one of the most closely held secrets of the war, to intercept Japanese radio communications, including Japanese diplomatic message traffic. The U.S. Army Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) located its code-breaking activities at Arlington Hall on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., with an intercept station and technical training school at Vint Hill Farms near Warrenton, Virginia. The Office of Naval Intelligence’s counterpart to the SIS, OP–20–G, was at the Mount Vernon Academy in Washington, D.C. To translate intercepted Japanese material, both organizations used language officers and Caucasian civilians such as Harold E. Zaugg, repatriated from Japan in 1942, and Virginia Aderholdt, a former teacher in Japan.
  7. Evening Star Saturday, Nov 16, 1957 Washington (DC), Page: 7
  8. "Virginia Dare Aderholdt Larsen (1910-1997)". Find a Grave. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
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