Harvey Paul Wasserboehr III, 89; Ultra code breaker, commercial artist
Reflecting shortly before his death on Sunday, 5/30, from congestive heart failure, Harvey Wasserboehr said that one of his proudest achievements in life was the time he served in the US military during World War II, helping to decode Nazi Germany’s top secret military orders at Bletchley Park in England.
From 1942-1945, Mr. Wasserboehr was attached to the US Army’s Signal Corps, where three American intelligence attachments worked directly under the supervision of British Navy Commander Sir Edward Travis, the Director of Bletchley Park with the British Royal Naval Intelligence 68-12th Signal Division and also at Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s HQ in London. He worked as an Ultra code breaker and cryptographer with the rank of technical sergeant to decipher and decode top secret Nazi and GermanWermacht military (high command) orders issued to the military in the field and on the high seas, using the “Bombe”-- an electromechanical device used to help decrypt German Enigma-machine-generated signals. Mr. Wasserboehr also helped establish clandestine, top secret, special operations intelligence command posts in Nazi-occupied countries, including France, Belgium, Poland, and later Germany, while forming communications links with those countries underground resistance units, organized to defeat the Nazis. Indeed, Mr. Wasserboehr was especially proud of Prime Minister Winston Churchill once telling Britain’s King George VI that “It was thanks to Ultra that we won the war.” Mr. Wasserboehr and his fellow war veterans were sworn to secrecy some 30 years after WW2, not to divulge their activities or participation in Ultra. Following the war, Mr. Wasserboehr was invited to train as a Lt. Colonel with the US Army’s Command School in England, but after 3 years of war, wanted to return to the US.
Mr. Wasserboehr enlisted in the US Army in 1942 and initially served stateside, helping train recruits in hand-to-hand combat and self-defense at several US Army Boot Camps. Mr. Wasserboehr was chosen to train as a US Army Commando, but because he had a special passion for crossword puzzles and excelled in mathematics—the US Army assigned him to work overseas during the war.
Harvey was born in Hyde Park, Massachusetts in 1920 and later moved to Saugus, MA, where he graduated from Saugus High School in 1938. Following graduation, he attended the New England School of Art in Boston, and graduated in 1941, where he earned a degree in art.
Following the war, Mr. Wasserboehr, who first met Elizabeth (Merrill) Wasserboehr at the New England School of Art, reacquainted with Ms. Merrill and married her in 1947. She was his devoted wife of 46 years up until 1994 when she passed away. Together they had 7 children, including 3 sets of twins, born between 1948-1958. They lived in Reading for 31 years and had a summer home in Goose Rocks Beach, Kennebunkport Maine. Harvey worked at several Boston advertising agencies to support his growing family and in 1958, established his own business as a commercial artist and technical illustrator. He worked for Walt Disney Productions, Raleigh Bicycles, Mr. Donut, among many other top industries and businesses. Harvey was an avid skier and helped form a ski club, among his many friends, called the SkiMeisters Club, which for many years in the 1970s and 1980s journeyed to the Swiss and Italian Alps to ski. He was also an avid mountain hiker, having hiked most of New Hampshire’s 46 4,000 foot peaks.
In later years, Harvey enjoyed special times and warm memories with his children, 10 grandchildren, and 3 great grandchildren. He enjoyed whittling nature figures at the North Andover Senior Community Center and flying to the UK for reunions with his former Ultra colleagues at Bletchley Park.
Mr. Wasserboehr was born in Hyde Park, MA, the son of the late Harvey Paul Wasserboehr II and Nannie (Porter) Wasserboehr of Saugus, MA. He was an Andover resident for the last 32 years of his life. He leaves 5 sons and 2 daughters: Jack and his wife Cynthia; David and his wife Bonnie Burkett; Anne Wasserboehr; Paul and his wife Shirley; Patricia Wasserboehr; Richard and his wife Susanne; and Robert Wasserboehr and his wife Marisa. He also leaves 10 grandchildren, three great grandchildren, his sister Ruth (Wasserboehr) Fredrickson and several nieces and nephews.
Mr. Wasserboehr’s funeral will be held at the Charles Dewhirst Andover Funeral Home, 33 Pearson St, in Andover, MA on Friday, June 11, starting with calling hours at 10 am and a memorial service to be held at 11 am. Burial will be held at Ridgewood Cemetery in North Andover. Donations can be made to the American Diabetes Association of Boston or the American Heart Association of Boston.