Tex Biard

Captain Forrest R. "Tex" Biard (December 21, 1912 in Bonham, Texas – November 2, 2009 ) was an American codebreaker and linguist during the Second World War. A pre-war student of Japanese, Biard's translation work is considered to have been a crucial part of American military success.

In September 1941, Biard (then an Ensign) was stationed at Pearl Harbor, as part of American attempts to break JN-25. In the spring of 1942, he was transferred to the USS Yorktown, where his earlier decryption of JN-25 contributed substantially to Allied efforts in the Battle of the Coral Sea and the Battle of Midway.

In February 1944, Biard worked with Tom Mackie to decrypt and translate captured Japanese Army code books for Douglas MacArthur; MacArthur was able to use Biard and Mackie's data to accelerate his "island-hopping" strategy to liberate New Guinea and hasten the end of the war.