[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 54 (Friday, March 29, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E291]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              HONORING MS. JULIA PARSONS, WWII CODEBREAKER

                                 ______
                                 

                      HON. CHRISTOPHER R. DELUZIO

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, March 29, 2024

  Mr. DELUZIO. Mr. Speaker, today I want to honor my Forest Hills 
constituent, Ms. Julia Parsons.
  She stepped up to serve in 1942 as war raged across the world.
  Joining the Navy program, Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency 
Service (WAVES), she was tasked with destroying German U-boats by 
breaking Nazi code.
  She worked tirelessly, using logic puzzles and clunky computers as 
weapons. In the battle for the Atlantic, the war felt extremely close 
by. Her co-worker's husband's convoy frequently went through enemy 
infested waters. Every code the women unwound helped keep him and his 
shipmates alive. Yet, that very code contained personal details of 
German soldiers. She learned of a new father's son the same day he did, 
but had to use that information to spell his demise.
  Ms. Parsons couldn't breathe a word of her work. She knew, better 
than anyone, that loose lips sink ships. When people asked what she 
did, she described codebreaking as ``office work'' and was often 
dismissed as a low-level secretary. The war ended her work, but not her 
silence. She was not able to share the truth until the information was 
declassified beginning in the 1970s.
  As a fellow Navy veteran, I'm especially proud to tell Julia Parson's 
story and celebrate her service this Women's History Month.

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