Neighbours Harry & Joan Crawford, Ultra Code Breakers

In a book entitled “Comrades in Arms, A History of Newfoundlanders in Action, Second World War”, 1986, author Herb Wells describes the lives of Harry Crawford and his wife Joan, who were engaged in work with the British Intelligence Service breaking secret German codes for the allies during WW11. For me it was a fascinating and highly recommended read, particularly since I remember living on the same street (Stoneyhouse St.) as the Crawfords in St. John’s back in the 1950’s and they were friends of my parents, but I had never heard this story. During WW11 there were German submarines operating around the NL shores bent on destroying allied shipping engaged in the war effort, and undoubtedly coded messages were an important part of operation. As a lad we used to summer in Conception Bay across from Bell Island. I remember stories circulating at that time about German spies operating there who watched ship movements of iron ore from the island and radioed information to subs offshore. Those were indeed interesting times.

John Cornick
Halifax, Nova Scotia


  Submitted By: John Cornick