How more than 10,000 women worked with the U.S. military to help end the war

One chilly afternoon in November 1941, Ann White found an odd letter in her mailbox from an astronomy professor who wanted to meet. White, who was studying German at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, soon discovered that the professor had just two questions: Do you like crossword puzzles? And, are you engaged to be married?

These same two questions were asked of women across the United States. If the answer to the first was yes and the second no, the women were offered the chance to train for a secret career: breaking codes for the United States Army or Navy.