Background
Born in Stockport, New York, Holmes was the son of Johan Erik Jonasson Holmes, a Finnish immigrant who worked as a fireman in a paper mill, and Esther F. Holmes.
Born in Stockport, New York, Holmes was the son of Johan Erik Jonasson Holmes, a Finnish immigrant who worked as a fireman in a paper mill, and Esther F. Holmes.
Wilfred Holmes graduated from the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, 1922, and had a master"s degree in engineering from Columbia University.
He suggested using an unencrypted emergency warning, in the hope of provoking a Japanese response, thus establishing whether Midway was a target. He served as a line officer in the Navy, in submarines. He wrote submarine adventure stories for the Saturday Evening Post under the pen name Alec Hudson.
He retired from the Navy in 1936 because of arthritis of the spine, and joined the faculty of the University of Hawaii.
In 1941 Captain Holmes was recalled to duty and assigned to Station HYPO, which was breaking Japanese codes, especially their naval cipher JN-25. By May 1942 United States Naval Intelligence knew that the Japanese were planning an attack at a spot they called Air Force, but did not know what Air Force signified.
Navy cryptanalyst Joseph Rochefort thought Air Force was Midway Island. Holmes had the idea of faking a water supply failure on Midway.
He suggested using an unencrypted emergency warning, in the hope of provoking a Japanese response, thus establishing whether Air Force was Midway.
Holmes’ ruse worked and led to the Japanese defeat at the Battle of Midway. Holmes became chairman of the department of engineering and mathematics at the University of Hawaii after the war, then Dean of Engineering, Dean of Administration, and Vice President, retiring from the University in 1965. Holmes Hall is named in his honor.
He was author of books on submarine warfare and naval intelligence.
Holmes died January 7, 1986 and is buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu.
