Edwin T. Layton
| Edwin Thomas Layton | |
|---|---|
Rear Admiral Edwin T. Layton
|
|
| Born |
April 7, 1903 Nauvoo, Illinois |
| Died | April 12, 1984 (aged 81) Carmel, California |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America
|
| Service/branch |
 United States Navy
|
| Years of service | 1924-1959 |
| Rank |
 Rear Admiral
|
| Battles/wars |
World War II Korean War |
| Awards |
Navy Distinguished Service Medal Navy Commendation Medal |
Edwin Thomas Layton (April 7, 1903 – April 12, 1984) was a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy, who is most noted for his work as an intelligence officer during and before World War II.
Edwin Thomas Layton was born on April 7, 1903 in Nauvoo, Illinois as a son of George E. Layton and his wife Mary C.Layton. Layton attended the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland and graduated in 1924. Layton spent next five years with the Pacific Fleet aboard the battleship USS West Virginia and destroyer USS Chase.
In 1929, Layton was one of a small number of naval officers selected to go to Japan for language training. Significantly, on his voyage to Japan he met another young naval officer, Joseph J. Rochefort, assigned to the same duty. Both became intelligence officers, Rochefort specializing in decryption efforts, Layton in using intelligence information in war planning. Layton and Rochefort, both of whom were in Pearl Harbor, worked closely together in the months before the attack, among other things trying to work out aspects of the larger international context which Washington had decided would be handled by Washington alone, and even more closely after the war began, especially in the month before the Battle of Midway. They both made signal contributions to that victory.
Layton was assigned to the American Embassy in Tokyo as a naval attaché where he remained for three years. While in Japan, he met Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto on several occasions. The last four months he spent in Peiping (Beijing), China, as assistant naval attaché at the American Legation.
His linguistic ability and fluency in Japanese proved to be assets as his career progressed, even more so as World War II began in Europe.
...
Wikipedia