![]() A language once forbidden became a weapon that was quick, accurate, and never deciphered. My family and the descendants knew nothing of the unique service the code talkers gave until 1968, when the code was declassified, and the public learned of what my father and the code talkers accomplished through their bravery, resilience, and ingenuity. Upon their discharge, the code talkers swore to never reveal their role in case the code would be needed again. Approximately 461 Navajo Marines served as code talkers, with 13 killed in action. They returned home without fanfare to continued poverty, lack of economic opportunity, and nonexistent voting rights yet persevered and overcame obstacles that helped change the Navajo Nation and their communities. Major Howard Connor, the fifth Marines division signal officer remarked, “Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima.” Thousands of messages transmitted intelligence in Navajo and were translated into English throughout many of the islands in the South Pacific, where the Navajo code talkers served exclusively (soldiers from 14 other Native nations served as code talkers during the war in Europe and the Pacific). In cases where no names for artillery existed in the Navajo language, they created shortcut words based on the behavior of animals. soldiers, to say where to position artillery, and to relay wartime communication. Their code book used one to three Navajo words for each alphabet letter, which consisted of animal names and short words used to spell vital information about the locations of the Japanese military and U.S. The code contained approximately 450 words, spelled phonetically and memorized. After several successful tests, the Navajo language was approved as a communication code. Because the Japanese had broken all the codes sent over the radio waves, the Marines were desperate to find a secure way to communicate vital information with precious little time. ![]() to be converted to Christianity, and to take us away from our cultural religions and our beliefs.” Astonished that they were now asked to develop the Navajo language to aid the war effort, the Navajo soldiers created the code in only a few months. Navajo code talker Keith Little said about the schools, “They had the real strong disciplinary rule that we don’t talk our native language. Eradicating Native languages has resulted in the systematic loss of Indigenous languages throughout the United States since colonization began. They came, ironically, from government and parochial schools that forbade them to speak their mother tongue and where they were expected to become Americanized through severe forms of assimilation and punishment meant to erase Indigenous identity and languages.
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