NavajoCodeTalkersWWII

=Navajo Code Talkers=

Early in World War II Japan broke U.S. forces codes. The Japanese had many English speakers that were able to not only decipher the messages sent, but they were also able to send messages that set up Allied troops for ambushes. In response to this problem the U.S. created more complex codes, but they proved to be of little use on the battlefield because they could take up to two and a half hours to decipher.

The idea to use the Navajo language was brought to the military by Philip Johnston, a veteran and son of a christian missionary. Johnston was raised on a Navajo reservation near Flagstaff, Arizona. He was one of 30 non-Navajos who spoke their language fluently. His father and him were allowed to learn the language because Philip's father was in good standing with the tribe after settling some disputes between the whites and Navajo. Johnston served in World War I and had heard about the military's need for a new code. He knew that In World War I the language of Choctaw was used to encode messages.

The Navajo language was a very good code for a few reasons. One reason is that only 30 non-Navajos could speak the language. Fewer people understanding made it more difficult for the Axis to capture someone who could speak it. The second reason the language worked so well is that the Navajo language does not have an alphabet. This caused multiple problems when trying to decipher the code. In order to learn the language the Axis would be forced to capture someone who spoke Navajo, because there would be little to nothing written down trying to convert Navajo into any other language. If the Axis were to learn the language, they would then still have to figure out what code words were being used. Another problem not using an alphabet caused was to use the English code Navajo had to be converted to English since that was what the code was being translated to for the Allies.

The Code Talker unit was formed in 1942. Because Johnston knew many of the Navajo tribe members and the Navajo language he was in charged of recruitment. The first group consisted of 29 members. They were trained in military combat techniques and they were in charge of creating the code that would be used to start. At first the military had came up with a code for the Navajo to use, but many of the English words being used did not have any translation into Navajo. Many of the code words that the Navajo came up with were things in nature that could be compared to what needed to be said. For example, the Navajo word for turtle was "chay-da-gahi," which was the code word for tank. The code was changed throughout the war to prevent it from being broken. The Code Talkers were able to decode three lines of English in 20 seconds. Not only was this faster than the previous code created by the U.S. it was also faster than the machines that would do the same job in 30 minutes.

During battle the Code Talkers where not allowed to writing any of the code down. When messages were transmitted, they had to decode, translate, and pass the message on without writing. This was to prevent the code from being broken if any paperwork was stolen. Even though the pressure to accomplish this translation, the Code Talkers proved up to the task. In the first two days at Iwo Jima, the Code Talkers coded over 800 transmissions without any mistakes.

The Code Talkers played a pivotal role in how the WWII went. The Japanese were never able to break the code that the Navajo's created. Because It worked so well, it was not declassified until 1968. Not declassifying the code, and the Code Talkers, meant that the Navajo that made such a big difference in the war could not be recognized as such. It was not until December 21, 2000 that a bill was signed that gave the original 29 Code Talkers gold medals to honor the work they did. The bill also gave a silver medal to any person who qualified for the Code Talkers after the original 29.

**__Works Cited__** Aaseng, Nathan. //Navajo Code Talkers//. New York: Walker, 2002. Print. This book was pretty short and provided a little more detail than the web sites. It did not have a lot of stories about the individuals.

McClain, S. //Navajo Weapon//. Boulder, CO: Beyond Borders, C, 1994. Print. This book provided good first person stories about the war. It also had maps that helped explain where the major advancements that the Code Talkers were involved with.

//Navajo Code Talker - Merril Sandoval//. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. . This site was specifically about Merril Sandoval, one of the Code Talkers. The site had his history, how he got into the military, and the role he played in the war. It was interesting to see the story of an individual member of the Code Talkers.

"Navajo Code Talkers and the Unbreakable Code — Central Intelligence Agency." //Central Intelligence Agency//. 6 Nov. 2008. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. . The CIA site had the basic story. The best part of this site is the explanation of the code. Unlike most sites it also included how an alphabet was built so the Navajo to use for words that they did not have a translation for.

//Navajo Code Talkers Association//. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. . This site is the official web site of the Navajo Code Talkers Association. It was a great source for an overall view about what happened and is happening with the code talkers. It was not extremely detailed on some points, but really good for others.

"Navajo Code Talkers Cryptology." //Naval History and Heritage Command//. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. . This was the best source I found. The information was well organized and detailed. The information was more detailed in the parts that were important about the story. It also had information about more current events that had to do with the Code Talkers.

//Navajo Code Talkers Quest//. 3 Apr. 2011. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. . This site was good for linking to others. It had little excerpts from articles and books. It didn't have a lot of detailed information about the Navajo Code Talkers, but the links usually went into more detail about parts that were not included in the websites that just gave an overview.

"The Navajo Code Talkers." //San José State University//. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. . This site had the same overview as most of the others. Unlike most of the other sites, it went into the linguistics of the Navajo language and why it work so well.

"NMAI Codetalkers." //National Museum of the American Indian//. Web. 13 Apr. 2011. . One of the best sources overall. The site was set up so that it walked through the events before, during, and after the war. This site covered the post war better than most of the others.

Paul, Doris Atkinson. //The Navajo Code Talkers//. Pittsburgh, PA: Dorrance Pub., 1998. Print. This source was a compilation of stories from different members of the code talkers. It had a pretty simple version of the story. It focuses much more on the individuals.

Rosenberg, Jennifer. "Navajo Code Talkers." //20th Century History//. Web. 13 Apr. 2011. . The about.com site provided good insight on all the main components of the Code Talkers. It was well set up and easy to read. It provided good information on how the Code Talkers began and where they are now.

Santella, Andrew. //Navajo Code Talkers//. Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point, 2004. Print. This book was mostly about the language and its use as the code. It was the most comprehensive source for the evolution of the code.

Townsend, Kenneth W. "Navajo Code Talker." //Navajo People - The Diné - Information about the Navajo People, Language, History, and Culture. - Navajo Indians//. 2000. Web. 13 Apr. 2011. . This source had the same information overall that the others had, but I liked how it went into more detail about how the code was actually created. The other sites just said that the Navajo came up with it, but there was more to it than that.

//Windtalkers//. Dir. John Woo. Perf. Nicolas Cage and Adam Beach. Lions Gate, 2002. DVD. This movie is what gave me the idea for this project. It is very different from the facts of what happened. It did not have how the Code Talkers began which is a very interesting part.