November 4, 2024 • 38 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, many Americans have heard of the famous Navajo Code Talkers who used their traditional language to transmit secret Allied messages in the Pacific Theater of combat during World War II. Our next story is told to us by one of these Marines. Peter MacDonald is the President at Navajo Code Talkers Association.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
And to hear or find our American Stories podcasts, go
to the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Many Americans have heard of the famous Navajo code talkers,
who use their traditional language to transmit secret Allied messages
(00:34):
in the Pacific theater of combat during World War II.
Our next story is told to us by one of
those Marines. Peter McDonald is the president at Navajo Code
Talkers Association. We'd like to give a special thank you
to Peter's daughter Charity, who travels with her father as
he speaks to Americans all over this great country. Thank
(00:54):
you for serving us and securing this audio for us.
Here's Peter McDonald at one of them.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
In the early part of World War two, shortly after
the parmin of Pearl Harbor, the United States was getting
ready to fight back in the Pacific. Not too long
after December seventh, nineteen forty one, Marines, Navy, Air Force,
(01:27):
an Army ran into one big problem. The problem was communication.
They tell us that in any war which every site
that has the best communication normally has the advantage in
the war. Well, in this case, the enemy had the advantage.
(01:53):
Why because they were bricking every military coat that was
being used in the Pacific, making it very difficult to
strategize without the enemy knowing where we're going to be,
what route we're going to be taking, what our where,
(02:16):
and when we are going to be at a specific location,
and they would be there with their submarine blow up
our shipment of supplies, equipment as well as personnel. This
became a real problem for Marines and Navy, Air Force
(02:36):
and ARMA. A gentleman by the name of Philip Johnston
was working near San Diego back in early nineteen forty two.
This situation of in ME breaking code became public knowledge
(02:57):
around January of forty two. Philip Johnston learn of this situation,
so he went over to the United States Marine Corps
base to talk with the Marine Corps communication officers. He
(03:18):
told them why not use Navajo language as a code.
The en ME doesn't know Naverhole language, therefore it could
be safe. Well, after much explanation, Marines really couldn't understand
what he was really talking about. So Philip Johnston went
(03:42):
back to the Navajo nation brought four Navajos to San
Diego Marine Corps base to demonstrate what he was talking about.
They put two Navajos with radio headset on one end
of the building, the other two on the other end.
(04:04):
They gave this to a message to center the other two.
They compared the two messages, the one there was sent,
the one there was received. They're similar, but not exactly alike.
But Marines were very desperate to get a code that
(04:28):
the enemy would not understand, so they asked a commandant
of United States Marine Corps in Washington, d c. Permission
to try this suggestion made by Philip Johnston. Philip Johnson
was not a Navajo. His parents came to the Navajo
(04:54):
nation late eighteen hundred as missionaries to Navajos. So Philip
Johnston grew up on a Navajo, played with Navajo kids,
and learned the language. He spoke Navajo very well. He
also knew the culture of Navajo well. The commandant asked
(05:23):
if they could try this. His initial response was no,
don't do that. We don't know these Indians, he said.
All we know is what we see in the movies.
When they see a wagon train, they yell and holler
(05:44):
right around their wagon. Train shooting arrows. This is not
that carnival war, so leave it alone. That was the
commandant's initial response. Number two, the commandants said, Ye, Marine
Corps is a very proud organization. We don't want anyone
(06:08):
where in the United States Marine Corps uniform that might
embarrass this proud organization. Just do the best you can.
I'm sorry. Well, with that rejection, the enemy continued to
break coats. The enemy continue to move in our direction
(06:29):
real fast, taking strategic islands. As a matter of fact,
that we need in order to get close to their homeland.
More pressure on the commandant. We need a code. We
might as well just call the enemy and say, hey,
we can go such and such a place, such and
such a time. We can be such and such location.
(06:52):
That's how it was.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
And you are listening to Peter McDonald tell one heck
of a story about the Navajo code talkers and how
their code, their language came to be adopted by the
US Marine Corps and helped us win a war. And
you were hearing clearly some pretty well, let's just say,
clearly ugly anti Indian bias. But in the end, well
(07:17):
we're gonna hear what happens next in this remarkable story
of one of the last Navajo code talkers. Talking to
you here on All American Stories. Lieh Habib here the
host of our American Stories. Every day on this show,
we're bringing inspiring stories from across this great country, stories
(07:40):
from our big cities and small towns. But we truly
can't do the show without you. Our stories are free
to listen to, but they're not free to make. If
you love what you hear, go to Alamerican Stories dot
com and click the donate button. Give a little, give
a lot. Go to Alamerican Stories dot com and give,
(08:09):
and we continue with our American Stories. And Peter McDonald,
who is the president at Navajo Code Talkers Association, let's
pick up with his story and pick up with the
continued difficulties Americans were having moving along in the Pacific
Theater because our codes kept being broken.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
The Commandant and April of nineteen forty two said, okay,
but you gotta do it. Mile Way number one asked
the Navajo nation to use the language only. Number two.
(08:54):
Just recruit thirty young Navajos. Don't tell them what you're
going to do them, just ask them if they want
to fight and shoot the enemy, not with arrows, but
with rifles. The commandant also said, we want to make
(09:16):
sure that these thirty young Navajos can't become United States
Marines first, So don't tell them. Just ask them if
they want to draw on Moraine and fight the enemy.
If they say yes, recruit them like you do all
other Marines you recruit. So Marine Corps came out to
(09:41):
the Navajo Nation in May of nineteen forty two to
recruit thirty young Navajos using detectives. To commandant, suggest that
you want to fight, you want to shoot the enemy,
you want to wear a nice blue Marine Corps uniform
like this, joined the Marines fight d and me. So
(10:06):
they did. They volunteered all thirty of them. They gave
them pliminary physical exam. One drop out, so just twenty
nine were busted down to San Diego. Now we're talking
May of nineteen forty two, twenty nine young naverhoods bust
(10:29):
down to San Diego. They were forming to one platoon.
There were several platoons going through boot camp, all at
the same time. Graduation from boot camp they create each platoons.
Navaho Platoon came in number one of all the other
(10:50):
platoons going through boot camp at that time. Of course,
a message went took back to the commandant. Commandant was
very happy, he said, wonderful process them through combat train
announ see what they do well. What the Mouran State's
(11:15):
Marine Corps and commandant don't know. It's Back in those days,
in the thirties and forties, it was not unusual for
any one of us to put in five to ten
miles every day managing the livestock. Before sun up, you eat,
(11:37):
you get out and move these livestock out. Three or
four of us young people, and they tell us to
take these animals out to a nice green pasture. If
you do find a green pasture, stay out there overnight
if necessary, maybe two nights, so you carry a blanket.
(12:00):
If you find a good pasture, you stay out there
with the animals, whether it's screening, dust storm, sun beating
down on your snow, and you stay out there. And
also one of us will be carrying twenty two rifle.
(12:21):
You get hungry out there, so you shoot a rabbit.
You barbecue a rabbit that you'll meal for the day.
That's how it was. Sometime ten to fifteen miles every day,
managing these livestock. So to these twenty nine young Navajos
(12:42):
that just went through boot camp, it was like a vacation.
Oh my god, I bet to slip on with metres
clean sheets pillows. We didn't know there was such a
(13:05):
thing as pillows until we got to San Diego. Also,
you don't have to carry a twenty two rifle to
get something to eat. Just getting a chow line three
meals a day, what alive compare training the same thing?
(13:30):
No problem. So these twenty nine young Navajos that went
in first graduated from a Marine Corps communications school with
high grades, and then they were separated from all other Marines.
They were then taken to the east side of San Diego,
(13:51):
a top secret location, a building about half the size
of an aviage hotel with high fence all around that
building and the gate at the gate, there were two
guards over the gate. There's a big sign that said
(14:12):
keep out top secret operation through that gate. A Non
States Marine Corps colonel, a full bird Colonel Marcy's twenty
nine young Navajos through that gate into classroom, and in
that classroom were tables with four chairs around each table.
(14:34):
In front of each chair riding tablets, a pencil, blackboard,
choking the racer on the wall. Colonel down a trustees
twenty nine young Navajo Marines. Now, he said, gentlemen, you
are marines. Now you read it, go fight and shoot
(14:55):
the enemy. But before you do that, we'll love for
you to something else. We'd like for you to develop
a military coat using your language. The colonel said, immediately,
whatever you do in this classroom, it's top secret. Also,
(15:18):
the colonel went on and said, you're not going to
carry anything out of this classroom. You're not going to
care anything to battle, because if you do, enemy shoots you,
they search you, and they'll find that copy of the
coat if you if you take care of it around
(15:39):
with you, nothing like that. Everything will be subject to memory.
Only another thing, the colonel said, whatever coat you're going
to be developing in this top secret classroom, only you
would know, not another Never, that's the kind of coate
(16:02):
we want. The colonel then said, here's a box full
of simple messages sent in combat. Look at it, read
it and see how you can send messages like this
using the quote. You can be developing. Colonel sat down,
(16:24):
lit his pipe and set go to work. Gentlemen. So
they did. They look at the messages, they read it.
They're all written in an English language using the English
alphabet ABCTF. This present the first big problem for these
(16:44):
twenty nine young Navajos we're talking now June of nineteen
forty two. Why was it a problem because Navajos not
a written in.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Language, is not a written language. And my goodness, his
story about boot camp being a breeze because these guys'
lives were tougher out in the field and they didn't
actually have to hunt for their meals. When we come back,
more of this remarkable piece of American history and how
Americans live and learn in the end, how they learn
(17:19):
to fight and love each other, the story of the
Navajo code talkers. Here on our American stories, and we
(18:10):
continue with our American stories and Peter McDonald's riveting story
about how the Navajo code talkers, well how they came
to be. And he's the president at Navajo Code Talkers Association.
Let's continue where Peter last left off.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
We don't have Navajo words for letters like A, B, C, D,
E F. So how in the world you're gonna send
a message You don't even have words for it. Eventually,
one of them went to the blackboard and wrote on
a big letter A and said, let's call the letter
(18:50):
A belasana. Belasana in Navajo means aphole, hop out. Letter B.
The discussion of the wild, they call letter B shush.
Shush in Navajo means bear, letter C mussy. Mussy in
(19:11):
Navajo means cat. Letter D b B in Navajo means
deer d e r. All the way down to letter Z.
The code word for letter Z was beshlish Beshtlician Navajo
(19:32):
means zinc. Zinc starts with z right. The colonel also
said there's another Marine Corps officer in that same classroom.
He said, this officer is a Marine Corps military coat expert.
Whatever coat you developed, you run it by him. So
(19:55):
they did. The officer said, that's great, that's wonderful. But
remember we have an enemy that is very smart and
very intelligent. They can break any coat that's in use,
and they use different method to do that. One other
(20:17):
method is repetition. Like the word Guadalcanal has four a's
in it, so you don't want to say pelasana belisana,
plisana belisana four times spelling Guadalcanal. So back to the
(20:37):
drawing board. What do we do well? The twenty nine
young Navos decided, okay, if that's the case, then why
don't we create two additional words for each letters of
the English alphabet, Like the letter A. The first code
(20:58):
word would be plasana apple. The second court word for
the letter A would be tenant. Tenant in Navajo means
X something you chop would with. The third code word
for the letter A would be willachi willa Chi in
Navajo means N, A and T. Two additional words for
(21:21):
each letters of the English alphabet, from A to Z.
They ran it by the code expert. The code experts
are wonderful. That's what we want. Terrific. Yeah, terrific for you.
But what that means is we have to memorize that
many more code words for each letters of the English alphabet.
(21:44):
Remember everything is subject to memory. Only every Friday there
would be a test. They divide the group into two,
Group A and group B. Well Todd d Enna, July
nineteen forty two. Final tests Group A and Group B.
(22:08):
Group A is given a real tough message containing all
of those two hundred and sixty quote words. Just develop
and memorize. Sent to Group B. Group B wrote it down.
They compared the two messages very much alike, with one
(22:28):
exception punctuation marks. Back to the classroom to create quote
words for punctuation marks. A period, no problem, dsision doion,
and navajo meanes up like dot summer colon. Took a
(22:50):
little time to create quote word for it, but eventually
it was called decision but set not dead. Decision but
not there in Navajo means a black dot that lost
its tail that will beat the code word for summer colon.
(23:12):
Question mark at jab at ja in Navajo means ears.
Question mark looks like an ear. All the punctuations you
could think of. Coote words were developed, memorized fact to
Group A and Group B. Group B wrote it down.
(23:33):
They compare the two messages, but gully, it's very very
much alike. As a matter of fact, it looks like
a xerox copy of the one that was sent at
this juncture. The colonel said, gentlemen, we're finished. Now we
can test this coat that you just developed an actual
(23:55):
battle to see how your memory works under enemy gunfire.
So Arcus seven, nineteen forty two, First Marine Division laid
it on the beaches of Guadalcanal with thirteen Navajo coat
(24:17):
talkers to test this new quote that was just developed.
Three weeks after the landing, General Vandergriff, commander of the
first Marine Division, sent work back to the United States saying,
this Navajo coat is terrific. The enemy never understood it.
(24:41):
We don't understand it either, but it works. Sundas some
more Navajos. So from that day on, San Diego Marine
Court Base took charge of recruiting noval after August nineteen
(25:04):
forty two, using the same tactics. Come out here, say hey,
you want to join the Marines, you want to shoot
the enemy, you want to wear a blue uniform like this,
Come join the Marines. Nothing about coats zero. So we
all volunteered to join the marine and fight. I went
(25:28):
in early nineteen forty four at age fifteen. That's another story.
But anyway, after quadle Canal, every landing in the Pacific,
(25:48):
Navajo coat was used. After Quadalcanal, Book in the Ville,
after Bouk in Theville, Cape Cluster, after Cape Cluster, Noop
written after New Britain, Tarawah Maken Kowacheling and we talk
(26:10):
Saipan tinian Qua, alsan Quam after Guam, the next island
Palla Lou, a real bad one after Paalalu, iwo Jima,
another bad one after Ewo, Okinawa. After Okinawa, some of
(26:36):
us were sent into North China.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
And what a story you are hearing. It is Peter
McDonald's president at Navajo Code Talkers. And this is what
World War two did. From our great and terrific stories
about our Tuskegee yarman to the women who worked riveting
and doing all kinds of things at shipyards across this country.
It moved the country along on so many fronts. When
(27:01):
we come back more of the story of the last
Navajo code talkers, and that's Peter McDonald. We're listening to
here on our American stories, and we continue with our
(27:41):
American stories. And Peter McDonald, the president at Navajo Code
Talkers Association and a code talker himself who served in
the Pacific Theater, and he was just talking about the
code talkers and how they hopped from Ireland to Ireland
to island, every battle in the Pacific they were there.
Let's pick up when we last left off with Peter.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
McDonald October twenty five nineteen forty five. We have separate
peace treaty ceremony with those Japanese in North China at
Singh Tao, China, October twenty five, nineteen forty five. All
(28:23):
through these bells, Navajo code was used. How does it sound, well,
let's go to Ewok GiMA. Three marine divisions landed on
ework gam Our, third, fourth, and fifth February nineteen forty five.
(28:44):
Each division of the United States Marine Corps have at
least seventy Navajo code talkers assigned to each division every landing.
That's how it was at least a dozen code talkers
to hit the beach first with the first wave. So
(29:05):
you're talking about over two hundred Navajo code talkers involved.
On the island of Ewe on the south south coast,
there's marser Rabachi most people familiar with that. In the
center is the airstrip. On the north side, there's some
little hills. Beneath one of those hills, a company Marines
was pinned down very badly. They were being fired down
(29:28):
from three different directions. Motor shehlles were being dropped on them.
They were honkering in their foxhouls desperately can't move the
commander of their company scribble a message handed to the
code talker that was covering that particular unit for the
front line, asked him to send that message to beach
(29:50):
command posts asking for help. What did the Navajo code
talkers do? He got the message from the commander of
that company written in English. He then dialed another Navaho
(30:13):
kote talker down at the beach command post and sent
that message. By the way, this message, I can tell you,
he's the exact message that was sent on EWO. A
copy of this message is the Marine Corps Archives of Washington,
d C. Well, the Navaho kote talker got the message,
(30:38):
he sent it to Navaho koe talker at the beach
command post. What did he write down? She buys no
sick horse. No, he wrote down, send demolition team to
heal three six two B. That was the message. That
(31:00):
message nev ho coat took twenty seconds. After twenty seconds,
the beach command post commander organize a rescue team to
save their company. Marines, tanks with flamethrowers, other heavy units
was sent out there. Over two thousand never Hoo messages.
(31:24):
The first forty eight hours on IWO Jima, London if
you do Lila meth. That means never ho coat going
through the air every minute, none stop, for forty eight hours.
We Marines, we always used to say, just niem an island,
(31:45):
we go get it for you. That was our motto.
But BT Connor said in his report, no, without Navajo Coat,
Marines would never have taken the island ave Wochima. I
(32:05):
told you earlier that I jowned marine when I was
fifteen years old around T. Snow's Pass area where I
grew up. I have a cousin he went in in
nineteen forty three and was involved and about two landings.
(32:28):
When he came home from on in Furlough, he was
winning a beautiful Marine Corps uniform. I said, Tom, how
do I get one of those uniforms? He said, John
the Marines. I said, I want to do that. So
he looks at me. He said how old are you?
(32:49):
I said I'm fifteen. He said I can't do that.
You got to be at least seventeen to join the Marines. Well,
I said, they don't know. Well he said, whatever you do,
you got to tell him you're seventeen years old. So
Tom and I we went to Farmingine, New Mexico to
(33:10):
a Marine Corps recruiting office. I asked a recruiter, I said,
I want to join the Marines. He looks at me,
he says, how old are you? I'm seventeen. And he said,
where's your birth certificate? I told him I don't have
birth certificate. I was born out in the boondocks, no hospital,
(33:30):
no paperwork. So he said, well, I can't let you
go in unless somebody vouched for you that you're seventeen
years old. I say, here's my cousin. He's in our
States Marine. So Tom signed his paperwork saying I'm seventeen
(33:54):
years old. Anyway, he went back to join his unit.
That's how I join in our States Marines. War is ugly.
War is bad, Yet, even to this day, we send
(34:22):
our kids out. Why because we love this country, Because
we cherish what this country means to us, luck, freedom,
and liberty. We don't want our parents and relatives to
(34:45):
be subjected to the ugliness of war. That's why we're
out there doing this. The quote that we developed was
so good that upon discharged from the United States Marine,
they told us, don't tell anyone what you did, because
(35:07):
what you did is still tough secret. You wait until
the code is declassified. The only thing we were told
to say, if people continue to ask us what we
did in the war, just tell them you were radio man.
That's all. For twenty three years after the war we
(35:31):
couldn't tell anyone. We finally forgot it, leaved alone. It
was not until nineteen sixty eight, twenty three years after
World War Two ended, that the Navaho Code was declassified
as a military code. And it was only after nineteen
(35:53):
sixty eight that we were allowed to talk about it.
Of course, we're not going to be here and tell
people like you folks, what happened. But we want to
build a museum National Navajo Code Talk or a museum
(36:13):
so that when we're all gone, our children, our grand
kiss in the future generation can go through at Navajo
Co talk to a museum and learn all about who
we are as American and that as diverse as we are,
(36:35):
but our way of life is threatening, we all come
together as one, using the different skill, talents and languages,
whatever it is that we have, we become one. And
when we become one, we are invincible. We cannot be defeated.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
And a beautiful job on the editing by Greg Hangler.
Special thanks to Peter MacDonald, who was a Marine and
a president at Navajo Code Talkers Association. And we will
always tell that story. Peter. Always to find out more
about the museum, google Navajo Code Talkers Museum in se Benito,
(37:17):
New Mexico. It's spelled tsee say Bonito. What a story
about so much, he says. The Marines used to say,
name the island and we'll go get it for you.
But of course without the Navajo code, the Marines couldn't
take you, Regina, or anything else. Whatever you do, tell
(37:39):
them you're seventeen years old, his pal said. And what
a story that was. Imagine there was a day when
fifteen year old volunteered to join a war when they
had to be seventeen. What a time. A beautiful story
about so much about what makes America great. Never been
said better on this show than from Peter mac donald.
(38:01):
The story of the Navajo Code Talkers here on our
American Stories
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
And to hear or find our American Stories podcasts, go
to the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Many Americans have heard of the famous Navajo code talkers,
who use their traditional language to transmit secret Allied messages
(00:34):
in the Pacific theater of combat during World War II.
Our next story is told to us by one of
those Marines. Peter McDonald is the president at Navajo Code
Talkers Association. We'd like to give a special thank you
to Peter's daughter Charity, who travels with her father as
he speaks to Americans all over this great country. Thank
(00:54):
you for serving us and securing this audio for us.
Here's Peter McDonald at one of them.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
In the early part of World War two, shortly after
the parmin of Pearl Harbor, the United States was getting
ready to fight back in the Pacific. Not too long
after December seventh, nineteen forty one, Marines, Navy, Air Force,
(01:27):
an Army ran into one big problem. The problem was communication.
They tell us that in any war which every site
that has the best communication normally has the advantage in
the war. Well, in this case, the enemy had the advantage.
(01:53):
Why because they were bricking every military coat that was
being used in the Pacific, making it very difficult to
strategize without the enemy knowing where we're going to be,
what route we're going to be taking, what our where,
(02:16):
and when we are going to be at a specific location,
and they would be there with their submarine blow up
our shipment of supplies, equipment as well as personnel. This
became a real problem for Marines and Navy, Air Force
(02:36):
and ARMA. A gentleman by the name of Philip Johnston
was working near San Diego back in early nineteen forty two.
This situation of in ME breaking code became public knowledge
(02:57):
around January of forty two. Philip Johnston learn of this situation,
so he went over to the United States Marine Corps
base to talk with the Marine Corps communication officers. He
(03:18):
told them why not use Navajo language as a code.
The en ME doesn't know Naverhole language, therefore it could
be safe. Well, after much explanation, Marines really couldn't understand
what he was really talking about. So Philip Johnston went
(03:42):
back to the Navajo nation brought four Navajos to San
Diego Marine Corps base to demonstrate what he was talking about.
They put two Navajos with radio headset on one end
of the building, the other two on the other end.
(04:04):
They gave this to a message to center the other two.
They compared the two messages, the one there was sent,
the one there was received. They're similar, but not exactly alike.
But Marines were very desperate to get a code that
(04:28):
the enemy would not understand, so they asked a commandant
of United States Marine Corps in Washington, d c. Permission
to try this suggestion made by Philip Johnston. Philip Johnson
was not a Navajo. His parents came to the Navajo
(04:54):
nation late eighteen hundred as missionaries to Navajos. So Philip
Johnston grew up on a Navajo, played with Navajo kids,
and learned the language. He spoke Navajo very well. He
also knew the culture of Navajo well. The commandant asked
(05:23):
if they could try this. His initial response was no,
don't do that. We don't know these Indians, he said.
All we know is what we see in the movies.
When they see a wagon train, they yell and holler
(05:44):
right around their wagon. Train shooting arrows. This is not
that carnival war, so leave it alone. That was the
commandant's initial response. Number two, the commandants said, Ye, Marine
Corps is a very proud organization. We don't want anyone
(06:08):
where in the United States Marine Corps uniform that might
embarrass this proud organization. Just do the best you can.
I'm sorry. Well, with that rejection, the enemy continued to
break coats. The enemy continue to move in our direction
(06:29):
real fast, taking strategic islands. As a matter of fact,
that we need in order to get close to their homeland.
More pressure on the commandant. We need a code. We
might as well just call the enemy and say, hey,
we can go such and such a place, such and
such a time. We can be such and such location.
(06:52):
That's how it was.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
And you are listening to Peter McDonald tell one heck
of a story about the Navajo code talkers and how
their code, their language came to be adopted by the
US Marine Corps and helped us win a war. And
you were hearing clearly some pretty well, let's just say,
clearly ugly anti Indian bias. But in the end, well
(07:17):
we're gonna hear what happens next in this remarkable story
of one of the last Navajo code talkers. Talking to
you here on All American Stories. Lieh Habib here the
host of our American Stories. Every day on this show,
we're bringing inspiring stories from across this great country, stories
(07:40):
from our big cities and small towns. But we truly
can't do the show without you. Our stories are free
to listen to, but they're not free to make. If
you love what you hear, go to Alamerican Stories dot
com and click the donate button. Give a little, give
a lot. Go to Alamerican Stories dot com and give,
(08:09):
and we continue with our American Stories. And Peter McDonald,
who is the president at Navajo Code Talkers Association, let's
pick up with his story and pick up with the
continued difficulties Americans were having moving along in the Pacific
Theater because our codes kept being broken.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
The Commandant and April of nineteen forty two said, okay,
but you gotta do it. Mile Way number one asked
the Navajo nation to use the language only. Number two.
(08:54):
Just recruit thirty young Navajos. Don't tell them what you're
going to do them, just ask them if they want
to fight and shoot the enemy, not with arrows, but
with rifles. The commandant also said, we want to make
(09:16):
sure that these thirty young Navajos can't become United States
Marines first, So don't tell them. Just ask them if
they want to draw on Moraine and fight the enemy.
If they say yes, recruit them like you do all
other Marines you recruit. So Marine Corps came out to
(09:41):
the Navajo Nation in May of nineteen forty two to
recruit thirty young Navajos using detectives. To commandant, suggest that
you want to fight, you want to shoot the enemy,
you want to wear a nice blue Marine Corps uniform
like this, joined the Marines fight d and me. So
(10:06):
they did. They volunteered all thirty of them. They gave
them pliminary physical exam. One drop out, so just twenty
nine were busted down to San Diego. Now we're talking
May of nineteen forty two, twenty nine young naverhoods bust
(10:29):
down to San Diego. They were forming to one platoon.
There were several platoons going through boot camp, all at
the same time. Graduation from boot camp they create each platoons.
Navaho Platoon came in number one of all the other
(10:50):
platoons going through boot camp at that time. Of course,
a message went took back to the commandant. Commandant was
very happy, he said, wonderful process them through combat train
announ see what they do well. What the Mouran State's
(11:15):
Marine Corps and commandant don't know. It's Back in those days,
in the thirties and forties, it was not unusual for
any one of us to put in five to ten
miles every day managing the livestock. Before sun up, you eat,
(11:37):
you get out and move these livestock out. Three or
four of us young people, and they tell us to
take these animals out to a nice green pasture. If
you do find a green pasture, stay out there overnight
if necessary, maybe two nights, so you carry a blanket.
(12:00):
If you find a good pasture, you stay out there
with the animals, whether it's screening, dust storm, sun beating
down on your snow, and you stay out there. And
also one of us will be carrying twenty two rifle.
(12:21):
You get hungry out there, so you shoot a rabbit.
You barbecue a rabbit that you'll meal for the day.
That's how it was. Sometime ten to fifteen miles every day,
managing these livestock. So to these twenty nine young Navajos
(12:42):
that just went through boot camp, it was like a vacation.
Oh my god, I bet to slip on with metres
clean sheets pillows. We didn't know there was such a
(13:05):
thing as pillows until we got to San Diego. Also,
you don't have to carry a twenty two rifle to
get something to eat. Just getting a chow line three
meals a day, what alive compare training the same thing?
(13:30):
No problem. So these twenty nine young Navajos that went
in first graduated from a Marine Corps communications school with
high grades, and then they were separated from all other Marines.
They were then taken to the east side of San Diego,
(13:51):
a top secret location, a building about half the size
of an aviage hotel with high fence all around that
building and the gate at the gate, there were two
guards over the gate. There's a big sign that said
(14:12):
keep out top secret operation through that gate. A Non
States Marine Corps colonel, a full bird Colonel Marcy's twenty
nine young Navajos through that gate into classroom, and in
that classroom were tables with four chairs around each table.
(14:34):
In front of each chair riding tablets, a pencil, blackboard,
choking the racer on the wall. Colonel down a trustees
twenty nine young Navajo Marines. Now, he said, gentlemen, you
are marines. Now you read it, go fight and shoot
(14:55):
the enemy. But before you do that, we'll love for
you to something else. We'd like for you to develop
a military coat using your language. The colonel said, immediately,
whatever you do in this classroom, it's top secret. Also,
(15:18):
the colonel went on and said, you're not going to
carry anything out of this classroom. You're not going to
care anything to battle, because if you do, enemy shoots you,
they search you, and they'll find that copy of the
coat if you if you take care of it around
(15:39):
with you, nothing like that. Everything will be subject to memory.
Only another thing, the colonel said, whatever coat you're going
to be developing in this top secret classroom, only you
would know, not another Never, that's the kind of coate
(16:02):
we want. The colonel then said, here's a box full
of simple messages sent in combat. Look at it, read
it and see how you can send messages like this
using the quote. You can be developing. Colonel sat down,
(16:24):
lit his pipe and set go to work. Gentlemen. So
they did. They look at the messages, they read it.
They're all written in an English language using the English
alphabet ABCTF. This present the first big problem for these
(16:44):
twenty nine young Navajos we're talking now June of nineteen
forty two. Why was it a problem because Navajos not
a written in.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Language, is not a written language. And my goodness, his
story about boot camp being a breeze because these guys'
lives were tougher out in the field and they didn't
actually have to hunt for their meals. When we come back,
more of this remarkable piece of American history and how
Americans live and learn in the end, how they learn
(17:19):
to fight and love each other, the story of the
Navajo code talkers. Here on our American stories, and we
(18:10):
continue with our American stories and Peter McDonald's riveting story
about how the Navajo code talkers, well how they came
to be. And he's the president at Navajo Code Talkers Association.
Let's continue where Peter last left off.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
We don't have Navajo words for letters like A, B, C, D,
E F. So how in the world you're gonna send
a message You don't even have words for it. Eventually,
one of them went to the blackboard and wrote on
a big letter A and said, let's call the letter
(18:50):
A belasana. Belasana in Navajo means aphole, hop out. Letter B.
The discussion of the wild, they call letter B shush.
Shush in Navajo means bear, letter C mussy. Mussy in
(19:11):
Navajo means cat. Letter D b B in Navajo means
deer d e r. All the way down to letter Z.
The code word for letter Z was beshlish Beshtlician Navajo
(19:32):
means zinc. Zinc starts with z right. The colonel also
said there's another Marine Corps officer in that same classroom.
He said, this officer is a Marine Corps military coat expert.
Whatever coat you developed, you run it by him. So
(19:55):
they did. The officer said, that's great, that's wonderful. But
remember we have an enemy that is very smart and
very intelligent. They can break any coat that's in use,
and they use different method to do that. One other
(20:17):
method is repetition. Like the word Guadalcanal has four a's
in it, so you don't want to say pelasana belisana,
plisana belisana four times spelling Guadalcanal. So back to the
(20:37):
drawing board. What do we do well? The twenty nine
young Navos decided, okay, if that's the case, then why
don't we create two additional words for each letters of
the English alphabet, Like the letter A. The first code
(20:58):
word would be plasana apple. The second court word for
the letter A would be tenant. Tenant in Navajo means
X something you chop would with. The third code word
for the letter A would be willachi willa Chi in
Navajo means N, A and T. Two additional words for
(21:21):
each letters of the English alphabet, from A to Z.
They ran it by the code expert. The code experts
are wonderful. That's what we want. Terrific. Yeah, terrific for you.
But what that means is we have to memorize that
many more code words for each letters of the English alphabet.
(21:44):
Remember everything is subject to memory. Only every Friday there
would be a test. They divide the group into two,
Group A and group B. Well Todd d Enna, July
nineteen forty two. Final tests Group A and Group B.
(22:08):
Group A is given a real tough message containing all
of those two hundred and sixty quote words. Just develop
and memorize. Sent to Group B. Group B wrote it down.
They compared the two messages very much alike, with one
(22:28):
exception punctuation marks. Back to the classroom to create quote
words for punctuation marks. A period, no problem, dsision doion,
and navajo meanes up like dot summer colon. Took a
(22:50):
little time to create quote word for it, but eventually
it was called decision but set not dead. Decision but
not there in Navajo means a black dot that lost
its tail that will beat the code word for summer colon.
(23:12):
Question mark at jab at ja in Navajo means ears.
Question mark looks like an ear. All the punctuations you
could think of. Coote words were developed, memorized fact to
Group A and Group B. Group B wrote it down.
(23:33):
They compare the two messages, but gully, it's very very
much alike. As a matter of fact, it looks like
a xerox copy of the one that was sent at
this juncture. The colonel said, gentlemen, we're finished. Now we
can test this coat that you just developed an actual
(23:55):
battle to see how your memory works under enemy gunfire.
So Arcus seven, nineteen forty two, First Marine Division laid
it on the beaches of Guadalcanal with thirteen Navajo coat
(24:17):
talkers to test this new quote that was just developed.
Three weeks after the landing, General Vandergriff, commander of the
first Marine Division, sent work back to the United States saying,
this Navajo coat is terrific. The enemy never understood it.
(24:41):
We don't understand it either, but it works. Sundas some
more Navajos. So from that day on, San Diego Marine
Court Base took charge of recruiting noval after August nineteen
(25:04):
forty two, using the same tactics. Come out here, say hey,
you want to join the Marines, you want to shoot
the enemy, you want to wear a blue uniform like this,
Come join the Marines. Nothing about coats zero. So we
all volunteered to join the marine and fight. I went
(25:28):
in early nineteen forty four at age fifteen. That's another story.
But anyway, after quadle Canal, every landing in the Pacific,
(25:48):
Navajo coat was used. After Quadalcanal, Book in the Ville,
after Bouk in Theville, Cape Cluster, after Cape Cluster, Noop
written after New Britain, Tarawah Maken Kowacheling and we talk
(26:10):
Saipan tinian Qua, alsan Quam after Guam, the next island
Palla Lou, a real bad one after Paalalu, iwo Jima,
another bad one after Ewo, Okinawa. After Okinawa, some of
(26:36):
us were sent into North China.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
And what a story you are hearing. It is Peter
McDonald's president at Navajo Code Talkers. And this is what
World War two did. From our great and terrific stories
about our Tuskegee yarman to the women who worked riveting
and doing all kinds of things at shipyards across this country.
It moved the country along on so many fronts. When
(27:01):
we come back more of the story of the last
Navajo code talkers, and that's Peter McDonald. We're listening to
here on our American stories, and we continue with our
(27:41):
American stories. And Peter McDonald, the president at Navajo Code
Talkers Association and a code talker himself who served in
the Pacific Theater, and he was just talking about the
code talkers and how they hopped from Ireland to Ireland
to island, every battle in the Pacific they were there.
Let's pick up when we last left off with Peter.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
McDonald October twenty five nineteen forty five. We have separate
peace treaty ceremony with those Japanese in North China at
Singh Tao, China, October twenty five, nineteen forty five. All
(28:23):
through these bells, Navajo code was used. How does it sound, well,
let's go to Ewok GiMA. Three marine divisions landed on
ework gam Our, third, fourth, and fifth February nineteen forty five.
(28:44):
Each division of the United States Marine Corps have at
least seventy Navajo code talkers assigned to each division every landing.
That's how it was at least a dozen code talkers
to hit the beach first with the first wave. So
(29:05):
you're talking about over two hundred Navajo code talkers involved.
On the island of Ewe on the south south coast,
there's marser Rabachi most people familiar with that. In the
center is the airstrip. On the north side, there's some
little hills. Beneath one of those hills, a company Marines
was pinned down very badly. They were being fired down
(29:28):
from three different directions. Motor shehlles were being dropped on them.
They were honkering in their foxhouls desperately can't move the
commander of their company scribble a message handed to the
code talker that was covering that particular unit for the
front line, asked him to send that message to beach
(29:50):
command posts asking for help. What did the Navajo code
talkers do? He got the message from the commander of
that company written in English. He then dialed another Navaho
(30:13):
kote talker down at the beach command post and sent
that message. By the way, this message, I can tell you,
he's the exact message that was sent on EWO. A
copy of this message is the Marine Corps Archives of Washington,
d C. Well, the Navaho kote talker got the message,
(30:38):
he sent it to Navaho koe talker at the beach
command post. What did he write down? She buys no
sick horse. No, he wrote down, send demolition team to
heal three six two B. That was the message. That
(31:00):
message nev ho coat took twenty seconds. After twenty seconds,
the beach command post commander organize a rescue team to
save their company. Marines, tanks with flamethrowers, other heavy units
was sent out there. Over two thousand never Hoo messages.
(31:24):
The first forty eight hours on IWO Jima, London if
you do Lila meth. That means never ho coat going
through the air every minute, none stop, for forty eight hours.
We Marines, we always used to say, just niem an island,
(31:45):
we go get it for you. That was our motto.
But BT Connor said in his report, no, without Navajo Coat,
Marines would never have taken the island ave Wochima. I
(32:05):
told you earlier that I jowned marine when I was
fifteen years old around T. Snow's Pass area where I
grew up. I have a cousin he went in in
nineteen forty three and was involved and about two landings.
(32:28):
When he came home from on in Furlough, he was
winning a beautiful Marine Corps uniform. I said, Tom, how
do I get one of those uniforms? He said, John
the Marines. I said, I want to do that. So
he looks at me. He said how old are you?
(32:49):
I said I'm fifteen. He said I can't do that.
You got to be at least seventeen to join the Marines. Well,
I said, they don't know. Well he said, whatever you do,
you got to tell him you're seventeen years old. So
Tom and I we went to Farmingine, New Mexico to
(33:10):
a Marine Corps recruiting office. I asked a recruiter, I said,
I want to join the Marines. He looks at me,
he says, how old are you? I'm seventeen. And he said,
where's your birth certificate? I told him I don't have
birth certificate. I was born out in the boondocks, no hospital,
(33:30):
no paperwork. So he said, well, I can't let you
go in unless somebody vouched for you that you're seventeen
years old. I say, here's my cousin. He's in our
States Marine. So Tom signed his paperwork saying I'm seventeen
(33:54):
years old. Anyway, he went back to join his unit.
That's how I join in our States Marines. War is ugly.
War is bad, Yet, even to this day, we send
(34:22):
our kids out. Why because we love this country, Because
we cherish what this country means to us, luck, freedom,
and liberty. We don't want our parents and relatives to
(34:45):
be subjected to the ugliness of war. That's why we're
out there doing this. The quote that we developed was
so good that upon discharged from the United States Marine,
they told us, don't tell anyone what you did, because
(35:07):
what you did is still tough secret. You wait until
the code is declassified. The only thing we were told
to say, if people continue to ask us what we
did in the war, just tell them you were radio man.
That's all. For twenty three years after the war we
(35:31):
couldn't tell anyone. We finally forgot it, leaved alone. It
was not until nineteen sixty eight, twenty three years after
World War Two ended, that the Navaho Code was declassified
as a military code. And it was only after nineteen
(35:53):
sixty eight that we were allowed to talk about it.
Of course, we're not going to be here and tell
people like you folks, what happened. But we want to
build a museum National Navajo Code Talk or a museum
(36:13):
so that when we're all gone, our children, our grand
kiss in the future generation can go through at Navajo
Co talk to a museum and learn all about who
we are as American and that as diverse as we are,
(36:35):
but our way of life is threatening, we all come
together as one, using the different skill, talents and languages,
whatever it is that we have, we become one. And
when we become one, we are invincible. We cannot be defeated.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
And a beautiful job on the editing by Greg Hangler.
Special thanks to Peter MacDonald, who was a Marine and
a president at Navajo Code Talkers Association. And we will
always tell that story. Peter. Always to find out more
about the museum, google Navajo Code Talkers Museum in se Benito,
(37:17):
New Mexico. It's spelled tsee say Bonito. What a story
about so much, he says. The Marines used to say,
name the island and we'll go get it for you.
But of course without the Navajo code, the Marines couldn't
take you, Regina, or anything else. Whatever you do, tell
(37:39):
them you're seventeen years old, his pal said. And what
a story that was. Imagine there was a day when
fifteen year old volunteered to join a war when they
had to be seventeen. What a time. A beautiful story
about so much about what makes America great. Never been
said better on this show than from Peter mac donald.
(38:01):
The story of the Navajo Code Talkers here on our
American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
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