Monday, August 14, 2017

Agnes Meyer Driscoll: Marking History

The Neglected Giant: Agnes Meyer Driscoll was published by the Center for Cryptologic History in 2015.  It won an award around that same time.  Now, it's made an impact, on 22 July 2017.  A visible impact.

Driscoll spent most of her formative years in Westerville, Ohio, near Columbus; The Neglected Giant gave the address of her childhood home. Some history-minded Ohioans noticed, and decided to do something about it:


I found out about the historical marker when one of the movers and shakers behind it commented on this blog:
I enjoyed your work on Agnes that I did a short (amateurish) video for our local Field Of Heroes we do for Memorial Day in 2016. We were honoring Women in the Military.

That and the work of many others has turned into Agnes being recognized by the Ohio Historical Society and a plaque being erected in front of one of her childhood homes here in Westerville.

If you search my name on YouTube hopefully you can find the video, and there are photos of the ceremony on Facebook at @WestervilleHistory.

Feel free to contact me directly if you would like to know more... thank you for doing this. The impact from your work has been wonderful here.


Driscoll's work in breaking codes, including her contributions against the Japanese JN-25, which helped win the turning-point Battle of Midway, made a mark in history, but that work has largely not received the recognition that it no doubt should have.  I'm not just pleased that Ohio chose to highlight the history made by one of its own, I'm thrilled I helped this happen.

Her grandnephew Capt. Victor Meyer, USN (ret.), pictured, was among those I interviewed in the researching The Neglected Giant.  His pride in his relative was evident then, and visible now.