LT, US Navy, Catherine Sanders Wright Grandia

Catherine Sanders Wright (Grandia) enlisted in the Navy Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) during World War II and reported for duty in January of 1943. ^{1, 3} Wright Grandia was sent to Washington, D.C., filing intercepted enemy messages. ² In a letter to her sister, she explained that the Navy approached many young women at Smith College where she attended and other women’s colleges about a secret program. ² news of They gave the girls who indicated interest a cryptanalyst test as a correspondence course over the summer. ² She then attended Officer Training School at Smith College, where she learned the military alphabet, military terminology, Naval etiquette, and military airplane and ship identification. ^{2, 3} She was then assigned to the Navy Communications Annex in Washington DC, where she worked on decrypting German code.  ³ The women stayed at the former Mount Vernon School for Girls. ² Because of the sensitive nature of the cryptanalysis, the Navy women were given strict orders not to speak of their assignment. ² Wright Grandia wrote to her sister, “From the first time we set foot in the Navy building (and even before, actually) we were regularly warned that we must not discuss what we were doing with anyone at any time. We would be hanged, drawn, and quartered if we did, or something equally fearsome.” ²

Wright Grandia worked on German U-Boat codes to track their location in the Atlantic. ² She was part of a team whose job was to break the daily codes for the U-Boats as fast as possible to track and sink them if possible. ² The Germans used a daily code book which meant the code changed daily. ² Wright remembers the new code books were issued when the Germans realized the Allied powers had the book, and how one of the new code books was successfully stolen from a U-Boat. ²

Catherine Wright Grandia was born in Northampton, Massachusetts to David and Florence Wright and was the oldest of five children.  ³ She graduated summa cum laude from Smith College in 1942. ^{3, 4, 5} A William Allare Neilson scholar and major in American Culture, Wright Grandia was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and was on the dean’s list for four years. ⁵

She met Lt. Commander, William (Bill) Grandia of the United States Navy while in Washington DC and they married on March 24, 1945.  ³  After being discharged from the Navy as a lieutenant, she joined her husband stationed in San Francisco and they later moved to Philadelphia where they started a family.  ³ Upon her husband’s retirement the Navy, the family moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico.  ³ There, Wright was an active leader of the Riverside 4-H Club. ³ And was also involved with the 4-H Building Corporation and Horse Council.  She was a dedicated member of the First Congregational Church where she took a special interest in caring for the rose garden.  ³ Catherine was also employed at H&R Block for over 25 years.  ³ It was noted in her obituary tribute that she always said: “I had an unexpectedly interesting life and I am grateful for it.” ³