Virginia Dare Aderholdt


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

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. As a twelve-year-old student, Virginia took third place in a state spelling competition. Virginia graduated with honors from Wyandotte High School, studied at Mitchell Community College in Statesville, Lenoir–Rhyne University in Hickory, Bethany College, 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.

Cryptanalyst

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. 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. In November 1957 she delivered a talk on her work at United Lutheran Church, Langley Park, Maryland. She was married to Paul Wehrmeister McDole, a music teacher, and Aksel Christian Larsen, a Lutheran minister. She died of pancreatic cancer in 1997.