Station HYPO

CAPT Forrest R. “Tex” Biard
December 21, 1912 – November 2, 2009

In January, 2023, Captain Joseph Sears will retire after 32 of service. A highly respected Naval Officer, he served our great nation and Navy with honor and distinction as and a Cryptologist Warfare Officer.  Enlisting in the Navy, Joseph Sears achieved the rank of Captain!  Captain Sears’ biography follows:

OP-20-G Collection Efforts against the Japanese Imperial Fleet:

Prior to 1932, OP-20-G, the Code and Signal Section, a Division of Naval Communications was focused on intercepting VLF and LF Japanese Imperial Fleet communications that originated out of the Japanese Naval Ministry in Tokyo as well as HF point-to-point circuits between major navy radio stations throughout Japan.  Additionally, communications were intercepted between Formosa (known today as Taiwan) and Tokyo and between Tokyo and senior Flag officers assigned to the Japanese Expeditionary Force operating in China coastal waters.

While working on garbled JN-25 coded messages at Fleet Radio Unit Melbourne (FRUMEL), YN2 William H. Trimblay recognized the code group “ATTACK AF.”

Born in Van Wert, Ohio on December 16, 1951, James Coon was the son of Mr. and Mrs. John W Coon and he had five siblings, Nick, Robert, Jan Marie (his twin), Brenda and Gordon.  A 1970 graduate of Van Wert High School, James was a member of the football team, track team, tennis team and wrestling team, the marching band and the high school orchestra.  James enlisted in the Navy shortly after graduating High School and was killed on December 12, 1971, four days before his 20^th birthday en route USS Enterprise (CVAN 65).

LT Walter Sherman Gifford, Jr., USNR
Radio Intelligence Officer
December 15, 1917 – July 31, 1944