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The release of Windtalkers, John Woo's action drama about Navajo code talkers, has kindled new interest in the communication warriors who used their native language to transmit messages securely, contributing to the defeat of the Japanese in World War II. We learned more by visiting the collection of web sites in the Navajo Code Talkers category of the Yahoo! Directory. On Senator Jeff Bingaman's Navajo Code Talkers Page, we viewed photos and read about the origin
of the program. Philip Johnston was the son of a missionary who had grown up on the Navajo reservation and spoke Navajo fluently. Familiar with the military use of Choctaw Indian code talkers in World War I, in 1942 Johnston convinced the Marine command that the unwritten Navajo language could serve as the basis for an unbreakable communications code in battle. A fact sheet from the U.S. Naval History Center and a declassified Navajo Code Talkers' Dictionary explained how a group of 29 Navajo enlistees developed the initial communications code of about 200 words. They chose Navajo words for key
military terms, such as da-ha-tih-hi (hummingbird) for fighter plane and besh-lo (iron fish) for submarine. In addition, the first code talkers created an English alphabet by using the Navajo translation of common English words that started with each letter of the alphabet. For example, the word, wol-la-chee (ant), was used to represent the letter A. The words that were chosen had to be easy to memorize and to hear over radio static. To make the secret code more difficult to crack, several hundred more terms were created, and several Navajo words were used interchangeably for each letter of the alphabet. Navajo soldiers were able to encode, transmit, and decode messages quickly and accurately in difficult, combat situations. In a 48-hour period during the Battle of
Iwo Jima, over 800 messages were successfully transmitted using Navajo code. You can listen to some examples of code talk on the U.S. Mint web site. Information about the code talkers and their role in the Pacific was classified until 1968. In 2001, the original 29 code talkers were awarded a special Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of their heroism. From recent news coverage, we learned that veteran code talker Albert Smith makes a cameo appearance in the movie Windtalkers. Other Navajo people and surviving code talkers were
consulted and participated in the filming.
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