Rochefort versus Nave

You have to read – A Man of Intelligence, written by the brilliant RAN Captain Ian Pfennigwerth. The Australians had their own Joe Rochefort.

The only American naval code-breaker in the Pacific war of comparable brilliance to Nave was Joseph Rochefort. He joined the US Navy at the same time Nave joined the RAN and also learnt Japanese in the 1920s in Japan. Although recommended for the prestigious Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) by the great Admiral Nimitz himself, it was opposed by the same malign influences that made Nave’s work unnecessarily difficult. Rochefort died in 1976, aged 76, but was awarded the DSM posthumously in 1985 and a year later the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It would be a wonderful thing if Eric Nave could receive comparable posthumous recognition.

From The Spectator