Navajo Code Talkers


The year was 1942 and the United States and its allies were currently losing WWII.  The improbable scenario of Nazi Germany and Japan taking control of the United States and it’s allies was looking more and more like it was becoming a reality. Our biggest problem: communication.

Japanese cryptographers were breaking our top-secret military codes just as quickly as we were creating them. Our only hope to ensure the freedom of the U.S. and ending the costliest war in the history of the world, lie in the language of the Navajo Indians, the Dine Warriors, who coincidentally had been treated with horrible disrespect and betrayal throughout the short history of the United States.

In accomplishing such a fantastic feat that resulted in saving the world from the spread of communism the Navajo Code Talkers would receive tremendous amounts of praise. This was not the homecoming received as you may suspect. They were told not to talk about anything they had done during the war because the code was “unbreakable”, and they might use it again (Nabokov 342).

According to Robert Carlisle from the Encyclopedia of Intelligence and Counter Intelligence,
“The Navajo Language was perfect for this project for a number of reasons: It is based on guttural sounds, inflection, tone, pitch, and pronunciation, so the same Navajo word can have multiple meanings that are almost impossible for a non-Navajo to understand. Also, the Navajo language was incredibly pure….”

                The reason the language was so successful was because of the Navajo tradition of storytelling instead of written language. From the time they are small children, they lay in a tent and listen to an elder tell stories and eventually start repeating the stories back to the elders (Carey). They must be told precisely what they are hearing including the emphasis and inflection of tone before they will graduate to learn new stories. Everything must be repeated exactly as it was told. This is because there was no written language, their history and stories were passed down verbally from generation to generation (Carey). (Watch an interview with Peter MacDonald (Navajo Code Talker) by clicking here)

The code talkers remained silent, until in 1968 when the U.S. government finally declassified the code talker program.

Despite being used in two more wars and being cheated out of their recognition and honor, if they had to do it all over again they would with tremendous pride because it is the Warrior’s way to protect the people and the land he loves.



Carey, Harold. “Peter MacDonald Tribal Chairman and Code Talker” navajopeople.org. Retrieved from http://navajopeople.org/blog/peter-macdonald-tribal-chairman-code-talker/

Nabokov, Peter. Native American Testimony: a Chronicle of Indian-White Relations from Prophecy to the Present, 1492-1992. Penguin, 1999.

Russell, Steve. “Honoring Veterans II: Belated Honor for Code Talkers.” Indian Country Media Network.  National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) Embassy of Tribal Nations, 10 Nov. 2014 https://newsmaven.io/indiancountrytoday/archive/honoring-veterans-ii-belated-honor-for-code-talkers-3OWQg4erzUyw_4B-T2Rx5w/


Image result for code talkers

Photo of Original WW2 Code talkers


Image result for code talkers

Chester Nez




Comments

  1. CKaneOctober 31, 2018 at 6:29 AM

    I have never heard of the Navajo doing this "code talking" ; and at this point I think it is normally for me to say " of course they did not get recognition". I feel like natives had so much to offer, which the Euro-Americans realized this and just used them for what was needed at the time. Very sad; especially because they are so resourceful and should have been respected for it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 31, 2018 at 11:21 AM

    I found the story of the Navajo code talkers astounding. I came across the story of the code talkers when they visited with the present President in the White House and again in Nabokov's book. I was curious to know more about the code talkers and the historical background of their participation was outstanding.

    Admittedly, my first thought concerning the U.S. government was the realization that they needed a prime line of defense to defeat their enemy. The very language which they beat out of the children at the Indian boarding schools was the language that was needed as a secret weapon that defeated the Japanese during World War II.

    One of the code talkers, who touched my heart, stated that the Indian school treated them in a military style, never mentioning the abuses and brutality, and that he and his team of twenty-nine
    were trained at boot camp for two weeks because of the training they received at the Indian school. Not one negative word about what he really endured while a student at the U.S. government Indian boarding school.

    Though they did not receive the honor, it took many years, that was due as it had been done for white veterans, they were honored to serve THEIR country. The code talkers words spoke loudly, their pride was not a chest pounding "look what we did," but words that shared their love for the land.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 21st Century Indigenous Person

Image
The Mohawk Proverb, Mankiller’s favorite, “It’s hard to see the future with tears in your eyes,” which she shared at the end of her video gives us insight into what she believes – there is a future for Native Americans, and they will not let tears cloud their vision. Her attitude is one of encouragement, but we must also acknowledge that her motivation is not only for the natives and that they will make room for the non-natives including them in their forward movement into a new season of self-determination. It is important to note that Mankiller does not sugar coat the historical trauma that the Native Americans suffered; she reaches out to her audience and brings them into the events without criticism or judgmentalism sharing the facts of the past and leading all into the contemporary momentum of the Pan Indian movement. Mankiller gives the audience a glimpse into the partnerships that can develop when work is conducted outside of a vacuum. She states that the Arizona tribal...
Read more

Wilma Mankiller

We reviewed the video of Wilma Mankiller speaking at Arizona State University, describing the challenges that Native American tribes will face in the 21 st Century. It is meant to display the point of a view of Wilma Mankiller, a former chief of the Cherokee tribe, and her views on the future of indigenous groups, the challenges they will face and how indigenous groups can best approach these issues. Her words speak with the authority of a community leader and as an expert not only on Native American people but on indigenous people around the world. She speaks of the connectiveness and similarities that indigenous groups have world wide. She speaks of how these groups can and should unite around. These groups face both unique challenges that are present only to indigenous groups but also larger issues such as climate change, that all humans across globe face. It is important I believe as sometimes Native American groups and all indigenous groups can be marginalized and people can fo...
Read more

Lewis and Clark

I have used the web resources off PBS regarding Lewis and Clark. I have learned that Lewis & Clark would go to tribe to tribe telling all of the tribes that the land that they have been on for years now belonged to the US. I was shocked to read that they had a slave named "York" that they brought with them; they let the Indians believe that he was a "wild creature that has been tamed" so the Indians believed it had spiritual powers. Lewis and Clark's mission was to make peace of all Western tribes, though some tribes saw them as a direct threat and were hostile in return as they had heard about the White man taking things away from them. Throughout the reading, there was many things that each Tribe would contribute and known for. The Chinook's were canoe builders, fisherman and planters. Hidatsa were farmers of corn, tobacco and beans. When Lewis and Clark would show up they would many times have exchanges so that the Indians thought that they were the...
Read more