Code Talkers

I've been meaning to write about a group of men who helped the U.S. win WWII. These men are the Navajo Code Talkers. 

Here is the Navajo Code Talker's dictionary  having been declassified we can now see this unbreakable code.

It was pure genius to devise a code partly based upon the alphabet and word association.

Here's more info on how this code came about using the complex Navajo language where tone of voice can have a different meaning to a word.


The following are interviews with eight of the Navajo Code Talkers.


Peter MacDonald, Navajo Code Talker.  It was destiny he do something great for his country, after dropping out of school after the 5th grade and joining the Marine Corps.




The Navajo language was not written. Memory only of the 400 who were recruited to use this code was one of the reasons it was undecipherable by the Japanese during the war. The Code Talkers were very valuable to the Marines and the war effort.


Samuel Tso, another proud Navajo Code Talker, didn't want to be called a draft dodger. He tells of the 'First 29' and how he volunteered to run across Death Valley to locate machine guns and how he knew he would survive that mission.






John Kinsel, Navajo Code Talker, tells of the meaning of the colors and symbols and how the Japanese almost got one letter of the code; how he got sick with malaria in South America; and receiving the Purple Heart, which he had to prove he was in the service.





Keith Little was orphaned. Listen to his story hearing of the 'sneak attack' on Pearl Harbor and hearing President Roosevelt say this is a day of infamy. Listen to how he volunteered for the Marines at age 17 and went on to be a Navajo Code Talker.




Kee Etsicitty, a Navajo Code Talker, tells how code talkers had to have a good memory in
order to translate into code.  He tells why he had short sleeves in uniform and a little about
 enemy conversations on the radio, and more.





Joe Vandever, Navajo Code Talker, tells how it was in the war and how he got word from a bird
 that he would return home and of being brave.





Samuel Tom Holiday, Navajo Code Talker, tells of his early years and more.





Chester Nav, Navajo Code Talker, who as of April 2014, is the last of the First 29 Code Talkers.
He speaks of raising sheep when he was young, the livestock massacre, and the hard life living
on the reservation. He explains that he was raised as a warrior to protect what he loves and he had to
join the Marines to protect the United States. He tells that until the code was declassified in 1968, he could only speak of his work in the service of just talking on the radio.





In 2001 the Code Talkers were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. 


These brave men volunteered and served their country in wartime.
Their service is to be commended by all who live in the land of the free.

I can say they served their country honorably.