Norman Torkelson wrote to me about his mother, Jean Theresa Pugh. He recalled that once he was sitting in his parents’ den with his parents and siblings, watching a 60 Minutes segment about World War II. The show mentioned the Battle of the Coral Sea and the code breaking that preceded that engagement. “I guess I can tell you what I did during the war now,” his mother abruptly said. Torkelson’s father began explaining that their mom had been a secretary, when she interrupted him. “No, Harold, I broke codes for the Navy and my girls worked on and broke that code.” She stood up and high-fived
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