John B. McDiarmid

John Brodie McDiarmid (June 6, 1913 – April 15, 2002) was a Canadian-born academic who played an important role in Canadian Naval Intelligence during World War II. He was chairman of the Classics Department at the University of Washington, was the university’s first Professor of Humanities, and was co-founder of the Seattle Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America.

McDiarmid was born in Toronto, Ontario, the only child of Scottish immigrants. He graduated from Upper Canada College high school with the highest grades in his class, earning scholarships to the University of Toronto. McDiarmid took his B.A. in Greek and Latin at Victoria College, University of Toronto, in 1936, and graduated with honors, recipient of the Kerr’s Cup. He paid his way through school teaching immigrants working on the Frontier Railroad how to speak and read English, and worked as a deckhand on a lake steamer. In 1940, he was awarded a Ph.D. in Greek, with additional two years studies in Sanskrit and Ancient Languages, from Johns Hopkins University, Phi Beta Kappa. While at Johns Hopkins he met and later married sculptor Mary Kahn, a graduate of Goucher College and Arts Students League.

In 1942, during World War II, McDiarmid, joined the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). After training in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he was appointed to Naval Services Headquarters in Ottawa and was assigned to the Operational Intelligence Center (OIC). He headed the RCN U Boat tracking team, charged with defending the North American Atlantic Coast against submarine attacks, and helped develop a system for interpreting and breaking German communication codes. He served under Lieutenant Commander Jean Maurice Barbe Pougnet (Jock) De Marbois, OBE, RD. In 1943, he served aboard HMS Hurricane, then, in London he became a member of the British Admiralty Tracking Room team for decryption procedures—part of the force working to break the code of Hitler’s cipher device, the ENIGMA machine.

...
Wikipedia