Forest Hills WWII Navy code-breaker celebrates 100th birthday with parade
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It’s no secret.
Julia Parsons, a Navy code-breaker in World War II, turned 100 on Tuesday.
Birthday wishes could be heard from a mile away. A parade of police cars blaring sirens and honking horns made their way past her Forest Hills home.
An ambulance, fire truck and other vehicles, including her plumber’s van, drove by as she sat in her front yard on Edgewood Road. Balloons decorated the area. An American flag hung from the porch. A car with a big birthday cake with a “100” on the roof road by.
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A Color Guard, fellow servicemen and women saluted Parsons for her service. Neighbors stopped by to wish her a happy birthday.
Parsons kept the secret of her Navy job for more than 50 years, finally breaking her silence in 1997, the year she discovered that the information was declassified in the 1960s.
Parsons worked on one of the first computers to decode German U-boat message traffic sent via the Enigma machine, according to Todd DePastino, founder and executive director of the Veterans Breakfast Club, a Pittsburgh nonprofit dedicated to sharing veterans’ stories.
He planned the parade and a virtual party on Tuesday evening.
“I am absolutely overwhelmed,” said Parsons, as she held birthday cards and smiled. “I was wondering what would happen if nobody came.”
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Parsons was born March 2, 1921. After attendingWilkinsburg High School, she earned a degree at Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University) in 1942. Upon graduation, she headed for the U.S. Navy’s WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), where her German-language skills and technical education took her into cryptology.
Parsons and her late husband Don, whom she met in the service, had three children and were married for 62 years.
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One of her daughters, Margaret Breines of Connecticut, said she and her mother email every morning.
“It was a fabulous event,” Breines said. “My mother has been active her whole life. She has so many interests. She does crossroad puzzles and plays bridge and reads. She is an inspiration for young women.”
Parsons’ granddaughter Laura Didsbury of Brooklyn, N.Y., attended with her 3-month-old son, Robert.
“It is very exciting to have this parade and party, especially because of the past year with not being able to get together,” Didsbury said. “This is a big deal because of everything she has done in her life.”