-The Navajo Code Talkers-
On December 7, 1941, American military troops were attacked at Pearl Harbor which is located in Hawaii. Navy personals were lost and so many others as well, from trying to save their lives and as well as other lives too. It was a day of silence for those on the main land for not every one knew what was going on. But for sure one word that popped into every ones mind is "WAR". Four days later they announced to all Americans that they've declared war on Japan.
How does this bring in the Navajo's? One of the most important thing about the war was to keep in contact (to report any chances, important locations, etc...) at all times when facing or in combat with the enemy. That was a problem for them at the time because the Japanese had well trained English speaking troops of their own. With these well trained troops, they would give the American troops false information and that would lead to an ambush that the Japanese solders had set up for the American troops. They, the Japanese, would also know the next move that the Americans were planning to do. Because of this, the code the began to use took them so long to send and decode the information that was needed to be sent that soon it just caused do much trouble that military leaders complained about it. It almost took them close or over two hours to receive a single message. This was a very difficult problem for the Americans for they were running out of time and running out of men (troops) as well. A man that went by the name of Phillip Johnston, Sergeant Phillip Johnston. Johnston, grew up among the Navajos since the age of four when his father who was a missionary to one of the Navajo schools. So he grew up knowing the Navajo language. HE spoke it so fluently he was an interpreter for his father. Sergeant Johnston knew the usage of the Native American Languages from the first World War I with the Comanche Indians. He also knew of the new search for a military code that will not be unbreakable, with out being intercepted by the enemies. After a demonstration, the Marine Corps had called the Navajo Nation to help support the US Military by using their Native language. By doing so, the military will recruit and enlist the Navajo men to serve as the United States Marine Corps Radio Operators.
The first twenty-nine Navajo's to enlist in were referred to just that, "the first twenty-nine". Here are the names of them.
The first twenty-nine code talkers were..
1-John Brown Jr 12-John Chee 23-William McCabe 25-Frank Denny Pete
2-Alan Dale June 13-Benjamin Cleveland
24-Jack Nez
26-Nelson S. Thompson
3-Chester Nez 14-Eugene R. Crawford
4-Lloyed Oliver 15-David Curley
5-Joe Palmer 16-Lowell S. Damon
6-Charlie Y. Begay 17-George H. Dennison
7-Roy L. Begay 18-James Dixon
8-Samuel H. Begay 19-Carl N. Gorman
9-John Ashi Benally 20-Oscar B. IIthma
10-Wilasie H. Bitsie 21-Alfred Leonard
11-Cosey S. Brown 22-Johnny R. Manuelito
27-Harry Tsosie 28-John Willie 29-William Dean Wilson
They were the ones helped with the original development of the original code, that came out to be the total of 200 terms. This new system was to be designed to be short and fast. They had combined Native words to create new military terms for the military hardware. BY using these methods, the code talkers use different words and it will all add up to be the same message that would make the code extremely complex that that would not only improve the understanding of the message but also by how fast it could the sent and translated as well. Not only have they a better understanding and quick communication, but the term that they use also grew as well. From starting off at only 200terms they grew to over 600 terms! At the end of the war, this operation by the usage of the Navajo code talker and all there wonderful techniques that developed, was proven to be one of the most successful and well guarded military secret code.
Source:
http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/medals/navajo/index.cfm?flash=yes&action=PhotoGallery
http://bingaman.senate.gov/code_talkers/