Radio Collector's Afficionado's Resource

In 1942 the Allied forces in the Pacific led by the American military were poised and ready to strike to regain control of the South Pacific islands now underneath Japanese control. There was one problem. Every code formulated by the American army designed to protect communications when it comes to troop movements, etc., had been broken by the Japanese. History books are full of the story of the Navajo Code Talkers and how the use of their ancient language by “code talkers” stymied the Japanese and led the way for the eventual reclamation of those islands under the control of the Japanese Empire in 1941. In fact, Major Howard Connor of the 5th Marine Division’s Signal Officers’ Corps stated, “were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima. Were it not for the decision of the United States government to restore sovereignty to the Navajo Nation to their lands taken by the United States in 1864, the outcome in World War II’s Pacific Theater might have been exclusively different.

Americans started pushing into Apache and Navajo lands after the United States discomfited New Mexico in the Mexican-American War. In the 1850′s more and more lands populated by the Mescalero Apache and Navajo for centuries were being taken by the United States military for forts and American settlers moving west to make their fortunes. Problems escalated as the Navajo and Apache took up arms to fight to maintain control of their traditions and culture. A cycle of raids and counter-raids begun when the moderately pro-Navajo U.S. Army leader and Indian agent was substituted in the latter share of that decade. A peace treaty was signed with the Navajo represented by Chief Manuelito on April 30, 1860 to fetch an end to the hostilities. A dispute over a horse race on February 15, 1861 led to the massacre of 30 Native Americans violating the terms of the Treaty.

After the massacre the American military leaders set plans in motion to remove the Navajo from their homelands in northeast Arizona, western New Mexico, Utah and Colorado and relocate them to a 40 mile square tract of land called Bosque Redondo in a barren area of northwestern New Mexico on the Pecos River. This was to be the basi Indian Reservation west of the Oklahoma Indian territory. Plans were to turn the Apache and Navajo into farmers and “civilize” them by sending them to school and making them Christians.

U.S. army leader Kit Carson made war on the Navajo in order to accomplish the plan. He ordered U.S. soldiers to march onto Navajo property and ruin their fields, orchards, houses and livestock. Those Navajo who pulled through the attacks were starved into submission and in January 1864 they surrendered at Canyon de Chelly. Carson promptly coordinated what became known as the Long Walk. Eight thousand five-hundred men, women and children marched 300 miles in the dead of winter from their lands in Arizona and New Mexico to Bosque Redondo. Two hundred people passed away of cold and starvation on the walk. More passed away after reaching what was no more than a prison camp where the Mescalero Apache were already interred.

There was continuous fighting amid the Apache and Navajo who were natural enemies. In addition, the brackish water led to intestinal difficulties and rampant disease. As more and more Navajo died, escaped or killed each other, the United States in the long run deemed this try a failure and negotiated the Treaty of 1868 that acknowledged Navajo sovereignty and returned the land on the Arizona/New Mexico border to the Navajo who returned in rags to rebuild their homelands on the rations and sheep given to them by the United States. (Legends of America at http://legendsofamerica.com/na-navajolongwalk.html )

They prospered and rebuilt their culture, preserving their religion, economy and language. If the United States government had succeeded in “killing the Indian but not the man” on the Bosque Redondo Reservation in the 1860′s, there would have been no thriving Navajo Nation 50,000 strong to offer 500 of it is sons, brothers and fathers in service to the American military in 1942. Of the 500 Navajo men who served the United States military in World War II, 375 to 420 served in the capacity of Code Talkers at one time or another. Without their service, the crusade in the Pacific to restore sovereignty of land to the humans of the South Pacific islands from the grips of the Japanese war machine might have had a dissimilar outcome or at least been even more costly in terms of humane life. These Code Talkers is worthy of all the honors and medals bestowed upon them. In addition, the Navajo Nation deserves our nation’s gratitude for honoring a 19th Century Peace Treaty in order to rebuild their culture and way of life.

Navajo Weapon Talkers American Culture

Read the true story that inspired Windtalkers, a major summer 2002 release that honors the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II, directed by John Woo (Mission: Impossible 2) and starring Nicholas Cage and Adam Beach. Based on first-person accounts and Marine Corps documents, this newly revised edition of Navajo Weapon: The Navajo Code Talkers describes how the U.S. Marine Corps recruited young Navajo warriors to construct a mystery code, using their native language that a heap of of them had once been forbidden to speak. The Navajo Code Talkers played decisive roles in the Pacific Theater and helped turned the tide in the bloody battles for Bougainville, Cape Gloucester, New Britain, Saipan, Guam, Peleliu, and Iwo Jima. Their unbreakable code helped save innumerable American lives and earned the Navajo Code Talkers the undying respect of their comrades in arms. 54 rare, historic photographs and maps.

ReviewA gripping account of Navajo Tribal men who…created the only unbreakable code in progressed military history. — Lee Cannon, past president, 4th Marine Division

Navajo Weapon Talkers American Culture Image

Navajo Weapon Talkers American Culture Picture

Navajo Weapon Talkers American Culture Picture

Navajo Weapon Talkers American Culture Image

Most helpful client reviews

21 of 22 persons found the following review helpful.
Solid account
By Interplanetary Funksmanship
Except amid students of history and military buffs, the story of the Navajo code talkers – Marines who were recruited from the Navajo reservations in Arizona and New Mexico – remained comparatively unknown until last year’s movie, Windtalkers. Unfortunately, the actual history of the code talkers got buried in the shoot-em-up special-effects extravaganza filmed by action conductor John Woo, who was way out of his league. In that movie, the brave and inventive contributions of the code talkers plainly served as a plot device for the white hero’s (played by Nicholas Cage) uttermost redemption.

However, those mesmerized in the rarely-told real story need only to open the pages of this informative book.

Author McClain follows the story of the closely 400 Navajos who volunteered for service for the duration of World War II and served in all six Marine divisions. These enlistees adapted their native tongue, Dineh, into an unbreakable code that would keep Japanese radio operators and cryptologists exclusively baffled for the duration of the length of the war.

The obscure origins of the Navajo code talker program date back to World War I. After American entry in that war, the signal corps learned that Central powers were listening in on orders relayed on that new communication tool, the radio. They then engaged Choctaw Indians as radio operators in order to safely transmit information. It worked like a charm.

However, after war’s end, the German government sent a heap of “scholars” to the United States in order to “study” the lives and societies on a lot of American Indian nation reservations. Actually, the so-called students were intelligence agents there to learn native languages.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the need for a perfectly mystery code was vital. Marine Maj. Gen. Clayton B. Vogel and civilian Philip Johnston, a white man who grew up on the Navajo reservation at Leuppe, Ariz., concluded that Navajo would be an idealisti code language because galore Navajo were educated in English at Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools, and exceptionally since no German scholars had been sent to Navajo reservations. This mystery code would be instrumental in keeping Corps operations secure and, most importantly, it is men alive.

On May 4, 1942, the Marines had recruited 29 Navajos, which formed the 382nd Platoon, a trial unit that would go through the rigors of boot camp at the Marine Depot at San Diego. Although attrition levels for this amount of time were among five to ten per cent, not one Navajo dropped out of the training.

Up until graduation from boot camp, the “first 29″ (as they would later be known as) had no idea for what particular obligation they had been recruited. Upon arrival at Camp Elliott, outside of San Diego, they were informed that their mission was to devise a code for mystery and rapid radio transmission based on their native tongue. Code talker Eugene Crawford recalled the sarcasm of the situation: Having been forced to speak only English in the BIA schools he attended, “he could closely taste the harsh brown soap the teachers forced him to use to scrub out his mouth when he was caught speaking Navajo.” Now, his government was ordering him and his fellow Marines to use Navajo to defeat the enemy!

Once the code was in place, code talkers were sent to the Pacific and were key in assisting U.S. forces to victory in it is island-hopping crusade in battles such as Bougainville, Cape Gloucester, New Britain, Saipan, Guam and Iwo Jima. Because they were all proficient in both English and Navajo, the code talkers lent an factor of speed antecedently unavailable in decoding. Translation from English to Navajo back to English was instant; prior to that, it took hours to decode cryptographic messages and recode the replies. This was a important factor in the swiftness of battle that left Japanese forces reeling.

Marine cipher specialist Richard Bonham remarked on the Navaho code: “The efficacy that the Navajo developed themselves, to write it down without delay and exactly, was something we marveled at. When you necessitated an artillery strike, you want it to begin now!”

Most importantly, innumerable American lives were saved by the code talkers. They were regarded as so necessary that fellow Marines were assigned as their bodyguards, to keep them out of enemy hands. Strangely, the code talkers were from time to time the targets of their fellow Marines, as they were now and again mistaken for Japanese soldiers in disguise.

After war’s end, the code talkers returned to the reservation heroes, but did not receive a hero’s welcome. Yet, they stayed unfeigned to their oaths to keep the code secret. Their mission was classified and not until 1969 would they receive public acknowledgement for their exploits. Thanks to the attempts of Congressman Lee Cannon – who had fought at Iwo Jima with the 4th Marine Division – the Navajo code talkers were esteemed for the duration of the 4th Marine Division Association’s reunion in Chicago that year. After the last code talker was honored, Cannon lauded them, “these men are quiet; they held their trust; they are Fourth Division heroes – each one of them!”

Author McClain tells the code talkers’ story matter-of-factly, relying on a wealth of selective information from declassified military documents, valuable oral history from the Doris Duke collection (Duke was the firstborn to systematically consultation the Navajo code talkers) and a great deal of consultations conducted by the author herself. Although the history is recounted more or less dryly, this is a thoroughgoing and honorable effort. She lets the book’s heroes do much of the talking: There is a treasure trove of personal anecdotes and first-person eyewitness accounts. Although not the most polished history I’ve read (often, rank is not cited), it does give the reader that “you are there” feeling.

The spirit of these proud people’s exploits may be summed up in the words of code talker Carl Gorman:

“Many persons ask me why I fought for my country when the government has treated us pretty bad. But, before the white man came to this country, this whole land was Indian country and we still think it’s our land, so we fight for it. I was very proud to serve my country.”

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful.
Good overview of the heroic Navajo Marines in WWII
By darren snyder
This is the second code talker book I’ve read and by far the better of the two. It gives good detail of the origins of the war in the Pacific and an interesting and terrifying account of the progression through the Pacific islands with the code talkers pivotal role displayed very well. This book gave me incisively what I wanted. I didn’t want to get to bogged down in minute details but wanted a good overview of the Navajo contribution. This book delivers and is very easy and pleasant to read.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful.
Wider focus than advertised
By Laura Gifford
This book does an splendid occupation at looking at how and why the Navajo Code Talkers were created, but the more outstanding share of the book was descriptions of the battles in which they took part, rather than how the code talkers experienced the battles. I recognize that numerous description of the battles was necessary for context, but I felt that it overshadowed her special importance and significance on the code talkers. Despite this, the author’s reliance on consultations with code talkers and others who worked with them and her use of initial person memories made the book a glimpse into the code talkers view of the war and their portion in it. The epilogue, with it is look at what happened for the code talkers on their return home and later acknowledgement by the soldiers they served with, was a terrifi wrap up to an important story.

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