Alva Bryan "Red" Lasswell (January 3, 1905 – October 28, 1988) was a United States Marine Corps linguist and cryptanalyst during World War II. In 1942, he contributed to the identification of

Midway Atoll Midway Atoll (colloquial: Midway Islands; haw, Kauihelani, translation=the backbone of heaven; haw, Pihemanu, translation=the loud din of birds, label=none) is a atoll in the North Pacific Ocean. Midway Atoll is an insular area of the Unit ...

as the Japanese military target codenamed AF. In April 1943, Lasswell helped decrypt the coded itinerary of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, leading to his interception by

Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

fighter planes near

Rabaul Rabaul () is a township in the East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea, on the island of New Britain. It lies about 600 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea. Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in ...

Early life and education

Lasswell was born in

McLeansboro, Illinois McLeansboro () is a city in Hamilton County, Illinois, Hamilton County, Illinois, United States. The population was 2,675 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The estimated population as of 2018 was 2,773. It is the county seat of Hamilto ...

, but raised in

Piggott, Arkansas Piggott is a city in Clay County, Arkansas, United States. It is one of the two county seats of Clay County, along with Corning. It is the northern terminus of the Arkansas segment of the Crowley's Ridge Parkway, a National Scenic Byway. As of the ...

. He attended Piggott High School and Rector High School, but never graduated. He was homeschooled by his father Charles, a teacher, and showed an aptitude for mathematics. In 1921, Lasswell moved to Oklahoma and found work as an accountant.

Military career

Lasswell enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1925. Selected for officer candidate school, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant on June 8, 1929. From 1932 to 1933, he served with the Marine detachment on . Promoted to first lieutenant in 1934, Lasswell joined the

5th Marine Regiment The 5th Marine Regiment (also referred to as "5th Marines") is an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps based at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. It is the most highly decorated regiment in the Marine Corps and falls u ...

in Quantico, Virginia later that year. Assigned to teach FBI agents small arms marksmanship, he received a letter of commendation from Director J. Edgar Hoover. In 1935, Lasswell was sent to Tokyo for three years of full immersion Japanese language and culture training. While there, he was promoted to captain in 1936. In September 1938, Lasswell was sent to Station CAST in the Philippines to relieve Lieutenant Joseph Finnegan and receive cryptology training. This was followed by a military intelligence posting to Shanghai. Lasswell was reassigned to

Station HYPO Station , also known as Fleet Radio Unit Pacific () was the United States Navy signals monitoring and cryptographic intelligence unit in Hawaii during World War II. It was one of two major Allied signals intelligence units, called Fleet Radio Units ...

at Pearl Harbor in 1941. He was promoted to major on April 29, 1942. After the

Battle of the Coral Sea The Battle of the Coral Sea, from 4 to 8 May 1942, was a major naval battle between the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and naval and air forces of the United States and Australia. Taking place in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, the batt ...

in May 1942, the team of intelligence officers at Station HYPO were hard at work trying to determine what the

Japanese Navy , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ...

would do next. Led by Joseph Rochefort, the team, which included Lasswell and Joseph Finnegan, established that a Japanese force of four aircraft carriers planned to strike Midway Island on June 4, 1942. As a result, Admiral Chester Nimitz was able to prepare an ambush using his three remaining aircraft carriers. Lasswell was promoted to lieutenant colonel on August 7, 1942. On April 14, 1943, a coded Japanese message was intercepted by American radio operators. After 18 hours of effort by the team at Station HYPO, it turned out to be the itinerary for a visit by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto to the Japanese front lines near Rabaul and the northern Solomon Islands. Lasswell and his supervisor Jasper Holmes delivered the translated message to the Pacific Fleet intelligence officer

Edwin Layton Edwin Thomas Layton (April 7, 1903 – April 12, 1984) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy. Layton is most noted for his work as an intelligence officer before and during World War II. He was also the father of the historian Edwin ...

, who in turn passed it on to Admiral Nimitz. Yamamoto was killed in an attack by planes from the U.S. Army Air Forces

339th Fighter Squadron 339th may refer to: *339th Aviation Detachment, United States Army Aviation Branch *339th Bombardment Group, unit of the New York Air National Guard *339th Bombardment Squadron, inactive United States Air Force unit *339th Fighter Group, unit of th ...

on April 18, 1943. Lasswell was promoted to colonel on November 5, 1943. After the end of the war, Lasswell was awarded the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

for his naval intelligence contributions. In 1947, Lasswell briefly served as acting commander of the

1st Marine Division The 1st Marine Division (1st MARDIV) is a Marine division of the United States Marine Corps headquartered at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. It is the ground combat element of the I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF). It is the ...

. He later commanded the 7th Marine Regiment from October 1, 1947 to May 10, 1948. He retired from active duty in May 1956.

Personal

Lasswell was married to Elizabeth Louise "Betty" Pearce (August 10, 1916 – May 18, 2006). They were married on June 3, 1938 in Tokyo, where Betty's father was an expatriate American engineer working on electrification projects. Betty had been the top-seeded female tennis player in Japan while studying at the American School. The couple had three wedding ceremonies in one day: a church service, a Japanese civil ceremony at the Akasaka Ward Office and an American civil ceremony officiated by U.S. Ambassador Joseph Grew. Their honeymoon trip to

Formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island country located in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, formerly known in the Western political circles, press and literature as Formosa, makes up 99% of the land area of the territorie ...

doubled as an opportunity to map the location of Japanese military installations. The couple later had two sons and, as of 2006, three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Legacy

Lasswell Hall at Fort George G. Meade in Maryland, the headquarters of Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command, was named in his honor. On November 4, 2019, Lasswell was inducted into the Cryptologic Hall of Honor at National Security Agency headquarters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lasswell, Alva Bryan 1905 births 1988 deaths People from McLeansboro, Illinois People from Piggott, Arkansas American cryptographers Intelligence analysts Pre-computer cryptographers United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II United States Marine Corps colonels People from Vista, California Deaths from cancer in California American accountants