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The United States and all the other allies should have sacrificed any of the Navajo Code
Talkers if they were about to be caught by the axis because they had all the key information to winning the war. “Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would have never taken Iwo Jima.” (Major Howard Conner, 5th Marine Division.) Many of the Marines and others say that the war would have had a different outcome if it were not for the Navajos to come in, in 1942. The Navajos were our best idea to win World War II. They had all the key information and if the Japanese, who were or main enemy, caught the Navajo Code Talkers there was a slight chance of the code getting out and our loss of the war. That could not happen so we had to go to big measures unto winning that war. (Code Talkers, Aaseng 12 and Navajo Code Talkers In World War 2)
All the Navajos had to do was to encode, decode, and translate all messages. Even though this sounds very easily, it was not. After boot camp and getting a hang of the new Navajo Code, the Navajos came in and in their first battle they sent over 800 messages with out making one mistake. They would receive the message from their commander, and then repeat the message in the new language over the radio to the next Navajo Code Talker, for them to decode the message on a piece of paper and tell their commander. (Though they Navajo Code Talkers were the key to winning and should have been treasured for their life, if the Navajo Code Talkers were even close to being caught or found, the Marine soldiers had been commanded to kill the Navajo Code Talkers. This was a very harsh thing to do for the allies but the Navajos would have been tormented and would have had body parts cut off, probably even killed just so the Japanese would have had a clue or the whole Navajo Code. Either way they would have been killed. This is not a good thing but such is true for the poor Navajos. To kill one we might have saved hundreds, even thousands of millions. Was this very necessary though? Yes, as a matter of fact, it was. (Interview with Mr.Sauer Monday, February 26, Talked about Code Talkers and received a packet)
If they Navajos did not want to save this country so much we probably would not even have them in this war, and we probably would have lost it. The Navajos used to live in a 25,000 square mile area of arid and semi desert land. When some Marine recruiters were passing by them, they had thought they had entered some sort of foreign land, probably because this land was bigger than West Virginia. But in-fact they were only in an isolated area in Arizona. These Navajos were very close as a tribe and always tried to stick together. As said before the Navajos did not trust the American Government, as the Navajo called them, the Belegaana. (Aaseng 23)
The reasons why they did not like them was because of the long walk they had to go through. It was in the early 1860's, the reason why they did it was because the U.S. Marines wanted to crush the Native American happy spirit once and for all. They burned down their villages, cut down their crops and orchards, stomped their flowers. Then they made the Navajos walk 300 miles to Fort Summer, New Mexico. Many of the Navajo’s older people, and their younger infants died from hunger and from many different diseases. Most Navajos held a huge grudge towards the American government for a couple decades; still today many Navajos do not like the government because they ruined everything that the Navajos had. Later, in 1968 the Navajo’s were forced to sign a treaty that if the government were to make a school that the Navajos would go to it, also that they would live in remote areas that was too dry so they could not grow crops but both did not follow that treaty. It would be a shame to because if the Navajos did go to the school then more would have known the English language and then when they wanted to join the war they could have because they would have known the two key languages to join the war, but it also helped them because no other Americans wanted to live on that land, so they became the very first Native Americans to call the place were they lived their own reservations. (Aaseng 23-29)
Yet they did not go to the schools so we had less of them to help us during the war, but that did not stop them from doing their best, not getting captured so they would not get killed to help save their country (even thought they did not get the respect and credit they deserved from serving in both World Wars). It was said, "The code talkers’ impact on the war was one final irony, one last undeserved blessing that the United States received from these mistreated people". (Aaseng 10 and 24)
The Navajo Code Talkers wanted to use something realistic and easy to follow. They wanted to use a language already made up and if people needed to learn it, they could learn it fast. All during the first two to three years when the United States joined the war, the Japanese were breaking all of the Allies codes and they could barely keep any of their secrets to where and when they were going to attack. One day the Marines and news reporters were telling a story on how they could not come up with a code that the Japanese couldn’t break. You see a German officer named Kasiski broke the cryptoptogram code. Breaking codes was a big advantage, plus having a good code that the enemy cant break plus having a hard code that the enemy cant break gives you an even bigger advantage. That is pretty much what the Japanese had, and since some of the United States was not helping one man stood out. (Code Talker In World War 2 and Navajo Code Talkers)
Mr. Philip Johnston (one out of like 30 people who knew the Navajo language and who was not a Navajo) heard the news and right away his second language, which happened to be Navajo popped in his head. He took it right away to the Marines. They were not surprised but very stressed because they were having problems with the Navajos at the time. (When the government put them up for the long walk). They did end up taking his idea though. They started it in 1942, because the Navajos finally accepted the fact that the United Sates needed their help again like they did in the last war. All the information went through the Navajos, so if any American or other allied troop wanted to know anything they had to go through the Navajos. Everyone tried to be nice to the Navajos and gain their trust while having their trust gained too. All the key information like: where they were going to attack and the exact time and date was in the Navajos hands. That is why we needed them so much. (Aaseng 17-22, Navajo Code Talkers and Code Talkers In World War 2)
The Navajos were probably the best things we received in the war. They where the ones who was apart of every maneuver, move, attack. And talk of moving or attacking. They knew about everything that was going on and when it was going on. With out them we wouldn’t have taken back most of Europe back and won the war. These new codes that Johnston made up with other Navajos was so complex and not understandable to the enemy which was the Axis, mostly Japan, that it gave the United States a big advantage, which they really needed. When they did use Johnston’s great idea, their messages on the radios did not really get intercepted and translated so the Japanese could know what to get prepared for. That is how the Japanese did not know that we were going to drop the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When they said they needed a critical advantage, rapid translating, and fast reflexes over the radio they meant it and they definitely got it! Even though most people would probably laugh at the next statement I am going to say it is true. Quick and fast radio translations are as important and maybe more important than weapons and ammunition. (Interview with Mr.Sauer Monday, February 26 talked about code)
The Navajo Code Talkers had to be very patient and good at memorizing information to do their job of code talking. Their whole entire job was to save other peoples lives and helping to attack and win the war against the axis. That is practically all that the Navajo Code Talkers had to do, besides protect themselves. Do not think this was easy though. The Navajo Code Talkers had to make sure that they would pronounce the words correctly because many words were written the same but certain letters were pronounced different. Then if they would mess up just one little pronunciation, that could really through off the code talker on the other line. If they would receive the message wrong then they would translate the message wrong. That could mess up a whole attack. The Navajo Code Talking job was difficult trying for they had to try and save themselves, not almost be caught (because the soldier assigned to the Navajo had orders to protect the code, so the Japanese would not capture the Navajos and torture them and possibly kill them) and try to help save the world around them. (Interview with Mr.Sauer, American Warrior)
The code was so important because it was their last chance to take lead over the Japanese (mainly) and help win the war. The Japanese broke all the other codes for three years straight. The United States were using Cryptology and the Japanese were dominating the allies because they kept breaking the cryptogram code. It was just not working. This was their last chance to prove themselves right and to help a country that just might finally set them free! If they were just about to be caught, the soldiers would have had to kill the Navajo Code Talkers. It is not the nicest thing to do but, if it helped save the code, the allies were willing to do anything. ( Kawano, 12)
Even though the Navajos helped us and were the main ones to helping us win the war, would it have been worth it to kill them? Should we really have killed the Navajo Code Talkers to save the lives of thousands of people and have democracy and not the dictatorship that Hitler and Emperor Hirohito? Which would have been better? Maybe we should not have even gone through all that trouble to kill them...
If we did not kill those Navajo Code Talkers then our secret would have gotten out. I was our last chance of survival, to help save our county and the countries of others so they could also be free.
The Navajos saved us and helped us win the war. We should have been thankful, but instead we did not treat them very well. We take the Navajo Code Talkers and what they did for granted and we should not have. “They were the keys to the locked door with hidden treasure behind it.” We never thanked them until four years after the war. That does not help but at least we did thank them. They did not deserve to get shot but they knew what they were getting into when they entered the war. They knew there was a chance for dying, and they were dying for their country and possibly countries around them. They should have been sacrificed for the safety of their country and the countries only hope: the Navajo Code. They were our saviors and deserve a big thanks and a museum in their honor. (Aaseng 20-32)
The Navajos did a wonderful job when they transmitted messages in Johnston’s code, but the Marine soldiers who watched over the Navajo code talkers and killed the Navajos to save the code for our safety did great too.
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Glossary
Grudge: When you keep angry emotions inside of you against a person who hurt you. Possibly you want revenge.
Reservations: A land on which you bought and own and live on. Mostly Native Americans have reservations where all Native Americans live on the land, blood related or not.
Complex: A very hard way off something being done
Glibly: It means to do something very easily.
Cryptogram: It is a type of code the Allies came up with during World War II. It is when one word stands for another.
Tormented: In wars when a person was caught the enemies would ‘Torment’ the people they caught which means to bully or put the person in pain for your own pleasing or reason.
Semi Desert: It is somewhat of an area where it is not just all just a barren land but it also consists of rainfall and coldness.
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Navajo Code Talkers
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Timeline
May 1942: The first 29 Navajo recruits attend boot camp at Camp Elliott in San Diego, California.
August 1942: Twenty-seven of the original 29-code talkers land on Guadalcanal where they use the code on a limited basis.
September 1942: Navajo Code Talkers Program is established at Camp Pendleton near San Diego.
1942 - 1945: Navajo Code Talkers participate in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in territories including Guadalcanal, Guam, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Peleliu, Saipan, Bougainville, and Tarawa. They serve in all six Marine divisions, Marine raider battalions, and Marine parachute units.
June 15, 1945: Navajo Code Talkers' Dictionary is revised.
1968: The Code is declassified under Department of Defense Directive 5200.9.
August 14, 1982: President Ronald Reagan designates this day as National Code Talkers' Day.
March 2, 1989: Dedication by Dr. Samuel Billison (a Navajo Code Talker and President of the Navajo Code Talkers' Association) of the statue "Tribute to Navajo Code Talkers", a monument to the Navajo Code Talkers, in Phoenix, Arizona. (More)
September 17, 1992: The Pentagon honors Navajo Code Talkers with the dedication of the Pentagon exhibit established in their honor.
April 2000: Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) introduces legislation authorizing the President of the United States to award Congressional Gold Medals to the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers and Silver medals to all the other men subsequently classified as Navajo Code Talkers under Marine Corps Military Occupation Specialty (MOS) 642.
December 21, 2000: The bill authorizing the Congressional Gold and Silver Medals honoring the Navajo Code Talkers is signed into law (PL 106-544).
July 26, 2001: President George W. Bush presents the Congressional Gold Medal to Navajo Code Talkers.
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Bibliography
Aaseng, Nathan Navajo Code Talkers New York: Walker and Company, 1992.
Code Talkers. <http://www.mamarocks.com/code_talkers.htm>1/23/07
Navajo Code Talkers In World War.
<http://www.secondworldwarhistory.com/navajo_code_talkers.asp> 1/30/07
Navajo Code Talkers. <http://www.2worldwar2.com/navajo-code-talkers.htm>1/30/07
Interview with Mr.Sauer. Monday, February 26, 2007. Talked about the Navajo Code Talkers
Kawano, Kenji Warriors: Navajo Code Talkers : North Land Publishing, Sept. 1990