The Navajo Code Talkers | Skipping Stones

THE NAVAJO CODE TALKERS

On July 26, 2001, President George W. Bush awarded the Congressional Gold Medal—the highest civilian medal Congress bestows—to the original 29 Navajo code talkers. Four of the five living code talkers and family members of the deceased code talkers attended the ceremony. These Native Americans had been successful in relaying secret military messages using Navajo words from nature during World War II that the Japanese were never able to decode. (1)

Sixty-five years earlier, the Navajos’ language ability was brought to the attention of the Marines by Philip Johnston. Johnston was aware the Japanese were easily breaking the American military codes. He was a missionary’s son who had grown up on a Navajo reservation. He knew that the Choctaw language had been successfully used to encode messages in WWI, which the Germans were unable to decipher. He realized that he Navajos’ unwritten language could also become an undecipherable code against the Japanese. (2)

Twenty-nine young Navajos were sworn into military duty. They trained at Camp Pendleton and then were tasked with developing an unbreakable code using their native language. They developed an unwritten Navajo dictionary of military terms which were committed to memory.

The Navajos did not have words for military terms. Instead, these Native Americans used words of nature with which they were very familiar. The types of airplanes became names of birds. Think of a chicken hawk (GINI) diving for its prey. Does this bird make you think of a dive bomber? Have you ever watched an eagle

(ATSAH) pluck its food and then soar through the air with it? It acts much like a transport plane. Think of how a hummingbird (DA-HE-TIH-HI) flits in and out of the flowers. This action is similar to that of a fighter plane. (3)

The code talkers were able to transmit and decode the messages with incredible speed and accuracy. Some 400 code talkers eventually were deployed with the six Marine divisions. Thirteen of these Native Americans were killed in action.

When a code talker sent a message in his native language, the recipient would translate the message into English words. The first letter of each word then formed the message. When the Marines on Iwo Jima raised the flag on Mount Suribachi, the code talkers relayed the message in the Navajo code. Translated into English it read: “sheep-uncle-ram-ice-bear-ant-cat-horse-itch.” (SURIBACHI) (4)

The code talkers sent their messages over portable radios they carried in the field. Some of these messages identified planes. Other dispatches told pilots where to drop bombs. Many gave lists of needed supplies. The Navajos always found a way to make their language work for whatever code was needed for these messages. Their language skills made a significant difference in the battles of Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Peleilu. (5)

The code talkers’ efforts were so successful the unbreakable code was kept classified until 1968. A movie, Windtalkersreleased in 2002, chronicled the challenges and successes of these heroes. Ironically, the use of their language had previously been banned by the U.S. Government in an attempt to assimilate the Native Americans into the general population. `

Why was their language so successful as a code? Navajo was a little-known and little-used language. It was difficult for anyone to know the language other than a person brought up in the oral tradition of a Navajo. They were very familiar with words from nature and readily changed military terms to well-known words.

The code talkers, with their remarkable Navajo language ability, were heroes in the South Pacific Islands, although it took over 60 years for this acknowledgement to be made public. Their heroic actions and patriotic sacrifices were finally recognized by a grateful nation.

By Annie Laura Smith, writer, Alabama. This article was first published by Ms. Smith in Kidz Chat.

November is the annual Native American Heritage Month, and it calls our attention to the culture, traditions, and achievements of the original inhabitants and of their descendants in the Americas. The official designation of November as National Native American Heritage Month in the U.S. was signed into law in 1990.

SIDEBARS

NAVAJO CODE TALKERS AIRPLANE TYPES* (6)

AIRPLANES	BIRDS	NAVAJO LANGUAGE
Bomber plane	Buzzard	JAY-SHO
Dive bomber	Chicken Hawk	GINI
Fighter plane	Hummingbird	DA-HE-THI-HI
Observation plane	Owl	NE-AS-JAH
Patrol plane	Crow	GA-GHI
Torpedo plane	Swallow	TAS-CHIZZIE
Transport plane`	Eagle	ATSAH

NAVAJO CODE TALKERS SHIP TYPES* (6)

SHIPS	ANIMALS/FISH/INSECTS	NAVAJO LANGUAGE
Battleship	Whale	LO-TSO
Cruiser	Small whale	LO-TSO-YAZZIE
Destroyer	Shark	CA-LO
Mine sweeper	Beaver	CHA
Mosquito boat	Mosquito	TSE-E
Submarine	Iron fish	BESH-LO