Station 1The Navajo Code Talkers

Despite their poor treatment by the United States throughout history, the Navajo were ready to fight for their country in World War II. A select group of these men were chosen to form the Navajo code talkers. Their work would prove invaluable to the war effort.

On the Pacific front, American intelligence was able to interpret messages using Japan’s top secret Purple Code. In turn, Japan was able to decode American messages. This meant that neither side was able to keep a secret. Because Japan employed a larger number of troops, America lost battle after battle. By the spring of 1942, Japan occupied most of the Pacific Ocean. Something had to be done–and quickly.

While military personnel were trying to devise an unbreakable code, a civil engineer for the city of Los Angeles, Philip Johnston, came up with a possible solution. Having been raised among the Navajo, he knew the language fluently and also knew that it was virtually impossible for an adult to master. After taking his idea to the Marines, a 30-man pilot program was initiated. Following the rigors of basic training, the recruits had to learn pages of military terminology. From a list of 211 terms most frequently used in the field, the Navajo wrote code words for each of these terms. An alphabet code was also added. Even intelligence experts could not crack the newly-devised code. Nineteen thousand Marines were dispatched to Guadalcanal in 1942, including the Navajo code talkers. By intercepting messages, U.S. intelligence was able to determine the routes and schedules of Japanese merchant marine ships and destroy them. The new code prevented enemy knowledge of American plans. Once Japan’s raw materials supply had been cut off, they could no longer produce military goods or equipment. The Japanese were forced to abandon the island. Thanks to the U.S. code-cracking abilities, the war in the Pacific was drastically shortened.

The code talkers experienced their finest hour in Iwo Jima, a strategic Japanese stronghold. During their first 48 hours on the island, six Navajo radio units worked around the clock and received more than 800 messages without error. Classified until 1968, in 1969 the Navajo war effort finally received the recognition it so rightly deserved. Two years later President Richard Nixon honored the code talkers with a special certificate. Congress declared August 14, 1982 as National Code Talkers Day.

Station 2Background

Maintaining secrecy, particularly during wartime, is vital to the national security of every country. Accomplishing this on the home-front during World War II was one objective of the Office of War Information. The office created propaganda posters that alerted American citizens to the presence of enemy spies and saboteurs lurking just below the surface of American society. On the battlefield, maintaining military secrecy went far beyond poster campaigns because it was essential for victory, and breaking enemy codes was necessary to gain the advantage and shorten the war. The ability to send and receive codes without the risk of the enemy deciphering the transmission was the most desirable end result of military secrecy. This ability, however, often required hours of encrypting and decrypting the code to ensure the highest security of the message. During World War II, the U.S. Marine Corps, in an effort to find quicker and more secure ways to send and receive code enlisted Navajos as "code talkers."

Prior to his arrival at Camp Elliott, Johnston sent a preliminary report to Major Jones and Maj. Gen. Clayton B. Vogel, the commanding general of the Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet, that explained the many reasons he believed that the Navajo offered the best possibility for recruitment as signalmen. Included in the report was a description of Johnston's own knowledge of the Navajo gained through his childhood experiences, general background information on the status of Native Americans that gave population statistics, and a specific explanation of the potential of the Navajo language as a military code. It stressed the complexity of the Navajo language and the fact that it remained mostly "'unwritten' because an alphabet or other symbols of purely native origin" did not exist, with the exception of adaptations by American scholars, anthropologists, and Franciscan Fathers, who compiled a Navajo dictionary. Furthermore, the report noted that the languages of Native American tribes varied so significantly that one group of Native Americans could not understand another's language.

Johnston's proposal also discussed how fluency in reading Navajo could be obtained only by those "individuals who are first highly educated in English, and who, in turn, have made a profound study of Navajo, both in spoken and written form." Besides himself, Johnston alleged that very few people in the world could understand the Navajo language. Johnston's report concluded by recommending the Navajo, Sioux, Chippewa, and Pima-Papago as tribes that were available for recruitment based on the size of their population. Because of Johnston's intimate knowledge of the Navajo reservation, its people, and the Navajo language-- and because the Navajo had the largest population of Native American-- he believed that they offered the best possibility for recruitment. Johnston thought that the tribe's seclusion made the Navajo a culturally and linguistically autonomous people compared with other native groups.

On February 28, 1942, the four Navajos assisted Johnston in demonstrating his idea. Prior to the demonstration, General Vogel had installed a telephone connection between two offices and wrote out six messages that were typical of those sent during combat. One of those messages read "Enemy expected to make tank and dive bomber attack at dawn." The Navajo managed to transmit the message almost verbatim: "Enemy tank dive bomber expected to attack this morning." The remaining messages were translated with similar proficiency, which duly impressed General Vogel. A week later on, March 6, 1942, Vogel wrote a letter to the U.S. Marine Corps commandant recommending the initial recruitment of two hundred Navajos for the Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet. (You will see that Primary Source at the next Station)

Station 3

Station 4

FIELD SIGNAL BATTALION SPECIALIST TRAINING REGIMENT, MARINE TRAINING COMMAND SAN DIEGO AREA, CAMP PENDLETON, OCEANSIDE, CALIFORNIA

1 February, 1945 MASTER SCHEDULE

NAVAJO TALKERS COURSE (4 weeks)

1. Printing and Message Writing 10 2. Navajo Alphabet 15 3. Navajo Vocabulary 40 4. Wire Ties and Splices 5 5. Wire Laying 5 6. Pole Climbing 5 8. Voice Procedure 10 9. Message Center Operation and Procedure 10 10. Navajo Message Transmission 30 11. SCR_300_500 20 12. TRX 16 13. Organization of Infantry Regiment 5

Total H..............................................................175 — Master Schedule, Navajo Talkers Course, February 1, 1945, U.S. Marine Corps

Station 5

HON. MARK UDALL of Colorado

In the House of Representatives Wednesday , July 25, 2001

Mr. Udall of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers, who courageously served this country during WWII. The original 29 Navajo code talkers developed a Navajo language- based code to transmit information while in the Pacific theatre. Their efforts were invaluable to this nation and helped bring the war in the Pacific to a close, impacting all Americans. Today these men or their surviving family members are receiving Congressional gold medals of honor as a symbol of our Nation's appreciation for their valor.

In early 1942 the Marines started to recruit Navajo men to serve as code talkers in the Pacific. The Marines were searching for a code, which the Japanese would be unable to break. Since the Navajo language is incredibly complex and consists of complicated syntax and tonal qualities, plus different dialects, it was an ideal code. The original 29 Navajo Code Talkers developed a code dictionary, which had to be memorized. This code consisted of English translations of Navajo phrases. The Japanese were never able to break the complicated code. The Navajo Code Talkers successfully sent thousands of messages, enabling the Marines and this Nation to achieve victory.

The war in the Pacific was brought to a close with the help of these original 29 Navajo code talkers and the hundreds of code talkers who followed. The Navajo, who bravely served this country, despite poor governmental treatment at home, should be commended for their service. I would ask my colleagues to join me, now and forever, in paying tribute to the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers who bravely served this nation. I am including an article from a recent edition of Indian Country Today, which recognizes the significant contributions of the

President George W. Bush presents the Congressional Gold Medal to four of the original 29 Navajo code talkers, Washington D.C., July 26, 2001.

Photography by Paul Morse/The White House