Windtalkers: America's Secret Weapon During WW2

Greetings, history enthusiasts. I'm Steve Matthews, and welcome back to WW2 Stories. Today, we're exploring one of the most extraordinary chapters in American military history—the story of the Native American Code Talkers, most famously the Navajo, who created an unbreakable code that helped secure Allied victory in the Pacific. It's a tale of ingenuity, courage, and the remarkable irony of how a people whose language had been systematically suppressed would use that very language to help save the nation that had once tried to eradicate it.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Greetings, history enthusiasts. I'm Steve Matthews, and welcome
back to WW2 Stories. Today we're exploring one of the
most extraordinary chapters in American military history, the
story of the Native American code talkers, most famously the
Navajo, who created an unbreakable code that helped

(00:20):
secure Allied victory in the Pacific.
It's a tale of ingenuity, courage, and the remarkable
irony of how a people whose language had been systematically
suppressed would use that very language to help save the nation
that had once tried to eradicateit.
Our story begins not on the bloody beaches of the Pacific,
but on a dusty reservation in the American Southwest where a

(00:43):
man named Philip Johnston had a revolutionary idea.
Born to missionary parents, Johnston had grown up on the
Navajo reservation and was one of the few non Navajo people
fluent in their complex language.
In early 1942, with America fully engaged in World War 2,
Johnston read newspaper accountsabout the military's ongoing

(01:06):
struggle with secure communications.
The problem facing American forces was dire.
Traditional military codes were being broken with alarming speed
by Axis cryptographers in the Pacific.
The Japanese seem to intercept and decipher American codes
almost as quickly as they could be implemented.

(01:26):
Every time the American militaryswitched to a new code system,
Japanese code Breakers would crack it, sometimes within
hours. Military planners were desperate
for a solution. Johnston had a flash of insight.
What about using the Navajo language as a code?
He understood what few outsidersdid.

(01:47):
Navajo is an extraordinarily complex language with no written
form. At that time, it's syntax and
tonal qualities were completely different from Indo European
languages, making it all but impossible for anyone without
extensive exposure to understand.
Even linguists who had studied the language took years to gain
basic proficiency. Better yet, before the war there

(02:11):
were estimated to be fewer than 30 non Navajo people in the
world who could speak the language with any fluency.
In February 1942, Johnston approached Lieutenant Colonel
James E Jones of the US Marine Corps with his idea.
Initially skeptical, Jones permitted Johnston to organize a
demonstration. Johnston recruited 4 Navajo men

(02:35):
from the Los Angeles area, and they performed a test for Marine
Corps officers at Camp Elliot. The Navajo speakers transmitted
messages in their native language, then translated them
back into English with perfect accuracy.
The officers were astonished by the speed and accuracy of the
transmissions. What normally took 30 minutes to

(02:56):
encrypt using machine methods was accomplished in 20 seconds
by the Navajo speakers. The demonstration was a stunning
success, and within days the Marine Corps authorized a pilot
program to recruit and train Navajo Code Talkers.
The initial recruitment targeted29 young Navajo men, many of
whom had never left the reservation before.

(03:20):
These men would become known as the Original 29.
Their selection process was rigorous, requiring both fluency
in Navajo and English, physical fitness and intelligence.
Many were still in their teens when they enlisted.
Motivated by a combination of patriotism, desire for adventure
in the warrior traditions of their culture, these first code

(03:43):
talkers faced a formidable task.After completing regular boot
camp training, they gathered at Camp Pendleton to develop what
would become one of the most effective military codes in
history. The challenge was substantial.
While Navajo was indecipherable to outsiders, many military
terms had no Navajo equivalent. How would you say tank, bomber,

(04:06):
or artillery in a language developed by a people who had
none of these technologies? The answer was ingenious.
The Code Talkers created a two-part system.
First, they developed the Navajoword for each letter of the
English alphabet using names of familiar objects from their
world. For example, that was Woolachi,

(04:28):
Ant, be with shush, bear, and soon.
This allowed them to spell out words for which no Navajo term
existed. But spelling out every word
would be too time consuming, so they created a second part of
the code, unique Navajo terms for frequently used military
vocabulary. The resulting code vocabulary

(04:50):
was remarkable in its poetic imagery and practical
effectiveness. A dive bomber became Genie
Chicken Hawk, a fighter plane was Dahitai, High Hummingbird in
a submarine was Beshlow Iron Fish, a battleship was Load so
Whale, and a hand grenade was anIMEI potato.

(05:11):
The terms reflected the Navajo way of seeing the world while
serving the brutal necessities of Modern Warfare.
Most critically, this was a codewithin a language.
Even a native Navajo speaker would be unable to understand
the transmissions unless they had been specifically trained in
the code. The entire system existed only

(05:31):
in the memories of the Code Talkers.
Nothing was written down. This made the code virtually
impossible to break, even if theenemy had somehow captured a
Navajo speaker. By April 1942, the first group
of Navajo Code Talkers had completed their training and
were ready for deployment. They would soon face the

(05:52):
ultimate test combat in the Pacific Theater.
The first major combat test for the Navajo Code Talkers came
during the Battle of Guadalcanalin August 1942.
This pivotal engagement marked America's first major offensive
against Japan as Marines fought to seize the strategic island in
its crucial airfield. Code Talkers were integrated

(06:15):
into Marine communication units,where they immediately made
their presence felt. On Guadalcanal, the Code talkers
value became immediately apparent.
Japanese forces had previously shown an uncanny ability to
intercept and act upon American communications, sometimes
launching counter attacks withinminutes of American radio

(06:36):
transmissions. But when the Navajo began
transmitting, something remarkable happened.
For the first time, American forces could communicate without
Japanese interception. The lush jungles of Guadalcanal
presented extraordinary challenges.
The humid environment played havoc with radio equipment,

(06:57):
Japanese snipers targeted communication personnel with
particular ferocity, and the constant threat of Japanese
counter attacks meant that secure, rapid communication
could mean the difference between victory and disaster.
One particularly harrowing incident occurred on October
26th, 1942 during a Japanese counter offensive known as the

(07:19):
Battle of Henderson Field. A group of Marines, including
code talker William McCabe, found themselves cut off from
the main American forces as Japanese troops infiltrated
their lines. With conventional communication
compromised, McCabe used his radio to transmit a message in
the Navajo code, providing precise coordinates for

(07:41):
artillery support. Within minutes, American
artillery began falling with pinpoint accuracy on the
advancing Japanese forces, halting their attack without
endangering the surrounded Marines.
This level of precision would have been impossible with
conventional coded messages, which took too long to encrypt
and decrypt in the heat of battle.

(08:03):
McCabe's rapid transmission saved dozens of American lives
and helped secure a position that might otherwise have been
overrun. Major Howard Connor, a signal
officer who served at Guadalcanal, would later say
were it not for the Navajos, theMarines would never have taken
Iwo Jima. The code talkers transmitted

(08:23):
tactical information with unprecedented speed and
security, calling an artillery strikes, directing troop
movements and coordinating complex amphibious operations,
all in a code the Japanese couldn't crack.
The success at Guadalcanal led to an expansion of the program.
The original 29 code talkers proved so valuable that the

(08:45):
Marine Corps quickly authorized recruitment of more Navajo men.
By the end of the war, approximately 400 Navajo had
served as code talkers, participating in every major
Marine operation in the Pacific.The working conditions for code
talkers were extraordinarily dangerous.
They operated on the front linescarrying heavy radio equipment

(09:08):
while facing the same risks as other combat troops.
Additionally, their role as radio men made them high
priority targets for enemy snipers who understood the
critical importance of disrupting communications.
For this reason, code talkers often worked in pairs with armed
guards protecting them during transmissions.

(09:30):
The physical challenges were extreme in the humid jungles of
the Pacific Islands. They loved cumbersome radio
equipment through difficult terrain.
The standard field radio, the TBX, weighed over 30 lbs, a
significant burden when navigating dense vegetation,
steep hills and swampy terrain under enemy fire.

(09:52):
In many cases, code talkers would set up their equipment in
foxholes or makeshift shelters, transmitting vital information
while shells exploded around them.
One Code talker, Chester Nez, later described his experiences.
When we were in combat zones, weoften had to hide ourselves in a
foxhole with our radio equipment, and from there

(10:14):
communicate with the other Navajo Code Talkers.
All the while, the enemy would be firing at us, trying to kill
us, and we had to keep communicating without them
capturing us. Despite these dangers, the
Navajo Code Talkers maintained an extraordinary record of
accuracy and efficiency throughout the war.

(10:35):
They sent and received thousandsof messages without a single
error in transmission or decryption.
This flawless performance saved countless American lives and
contributed significantly to battlefield success.
As the Pacific campaign intensified, Code Talkers played
crucial roles in increasingly significant battles.

(10:56):
At Tarawa in November 1943, theyenabled rapid coordination
during one of the war's bloodiest amphibious assaults.
At Palilio in September 1944, they maintained essential
communication through a brutal, prolonged battle that stretched
over two months. But perhaps their most famous
contribution came during the Battle of Iwo Jima in February

(11:19):
1945. This strategically crucial
island, only 750 miles from Tokyo, was defended by 21,000
Japanese troops in an elaborate network of underground tunnels,
bunkers and artillery positions.Taking the island would require
unprecedented coordination between landing forces,

(11:41):
supporting naval gunfire and airsupport.
Let me take you to that volcanicisland in February 1945 where
the Navajo Code Talkers would face their greatest test and
make their most significant contribution to American
victory, the Battle of Iwo Jima.When the Code Talkers changed
history, Don broke Gray and ominous over Iwo Jima on

(12:04):
February 19th, 1945. As the massive American naval
Armada position offshore came into view, the thousands of
Japanese defenders hidden in their elaborate tunnel system
waited silently. They had prepared for this
moment for months, transforming the small volcanic island into
one of the most heavily fortified positions in military

(12:26):
history. Among the American forces
preparing for the assault were approximately 80 Navajo Code
Talkers distributed throughout the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Marine
Divisions. They had been briefed on the
critical importance of this operation.
Iwo Jima would provide an emergency landing field for

(12:46):
damaged B29 bombers returning from raids on the Japanese
mainland and serve as a fighter base for escort missions.
Taking this island would put American forces on Japan's
doorstep, but the price would behigh.
As the pre invasion bombardment reached its crescendo, Navy
ships pounding the island with everything from 16 inch shells

(13:08):
to rockets, the radio networks crackled with activity.
Code talkers stationed on command ships translated orders
into the Navajo code, transmitting critical
information about landing zones,enemy positions, and the timing
of the assault. At 9:00 AM, the first wave of
Marines headed for the beaches and amphibious landing craft.

(13:30):
Among them were several code talkers, including Dan Aki,
assigned to the 4th Marine Division.
As his landing craft approached the beach, Aki could see geysers
of water erupting around them asJapanese artillery zeroed in on
the incoming Americans. The young Navajo man clutched
both his rifle and the compact radio he would use to transmit

(13:52):
messages. Once ashore, his dual role as
both warrior and communicator would be tested to the extreme
in the coming hours. When the ramp dropped on Aki's
landing craft, hell greeted the Marines.
Japanese artillery and mortar fire rained down with terrifying
accuracy. The volcanic ash that covered

(14:13):
the beaches made movement difficult.
Men sank ankle deep with every step, struggling to advance
while carrying heavy equipment. Many were cut down before they
could reach any cover. Aki managed to make it across
the exposed beach to the slight protection offered by a small
Ridge of volcanic rock around him.

(14:33):
Wounded Marines called for Corzman as officers struggled to
organize their scattered units. With shaking hands, Aki set up
his radio and began one of the first transmissions from the
beachhead in the Navajo code. Dean and Nazba BHLNIIDIILTHAAD
translation Marines have landed and are engaging the enemy.

(14:55):
This simple message, transmittedin seconds and immediately
understood by the Navajo receiver on the command ship,
confirmed that American forces had established a foothold in
conventional code. This same message would have
taken several minutes to encryptand decrypt, precious time
during which the tactical situation might have changed

(15:16):
completely. As the hours passed, the
situation on the Iwo Jima grew increasingly desperate.
Japanese defenders firing from hidden bunkers and pill boxes
inflicted heavy casualties on the advancing Marines.
Communication became essential for coordinating naval gunfire
support, directing reinforcements to weaken

(15:38):
sectors, and evacuating the wounded.
By nightfall of the first day, the American beach head was
tenuous. Marine units were fragmented,
sometimes isolated, and maintaining contact between them
was vital. Throughout the night, code
talkers worked continuously, often without sleep,

(15:58):
transmitting hundreds of messages.
The Japanese, who had broken previous American codes, were
baffled by these transmissions. They could detect the radio
signals but couldn't understand a word, a frustration that gave
the Marines A crucial advantage.On the second day of battle,
February 20th, the Marines facedthe dawning task of advancing

(16:21):
inland toward Mount Suribachi, the dormant volcano that
dominated the southern end of the island.
Here the code talkers would playone of their most decisive
roles. 2 Code talkers, Thomas H Begay and Keith M Little, were
assigned to a forward artillery observation post.
From this exposed position, theycould see Japanese defenses that

(16:44):
were holding up the American advance.
Using their Navajo code, they transmitted precise coordinates
for artillery strikes, describing enemy positions in
perfect detail. Within minutes, American
artillery was raining down on these positions with surgical
precision, a Marine officer who witnessed this operation later

(17:06):
reported. I've never seen anything like
it. Those Navajo boys would spot a
target, rattle off something in their language, and seconds
later shells would land exactly where needed.
The Japanese didn't have a chance to respond because they
didn't know what hit them. This ability to direct artillery
without the enemy intercepting coordinates saved countless

(17:28):
American lives. Throughout the battle, Japanese
forces continually tried to determine how the Americans were
coordinating their fire, so effectively they never cracked
the secret. By February 23rd, Marines had
fought their way to the summit of Mount Suribachi.
The iconic flag raising photograph taken that day would

(17:50):
become one of the most famous images of World War 2.
What few people realize is that this momentous event was
reported first via the Navajo Code.
A code talker named Joseph Burris transmitted the message.
Dive NTSAADNI Ash G and Silo ALCHNBANAITA with a QA with a

(18:11):
QSH translation. American flag raised on high
ground and sight of all this message electrified American
forces across the island and those waiting on ships offshore.
It provided A crucial morale boost at a time when casualties
were mounting alarmingly. The flag raising, while
symbolically important, didn't end the battle.

(18:34):
In fact, the most difficult fighting still lay ahead as
Marines pushed N into the heart of the Japanese defenses.
Here, the terrain became even more challenging, a nightmare
landscape of rocky ravines, steep cliffs and countless
hidden bunkers. Japanese resistance intensified
and casualties mounted. The island's northern sectors

(18:57):
were a maze of interconnected tunnels and fortified positions
from which Japanese soldiers could appear seemingly out of
nowhere to attack advancing Marines before disappearing
again. On February 25th, code talker
Wilson Price found himself in one of the most harrowing
situations of the battle. His unit, part of the Third

(19:17):
Marine Division, had advanced too quickly and become isolated
in a ravine surrounded by Japanese positions.
Enemy machine gunfire pinned them down, and several Marines
were already wounded. Without reinforcement and
support, the entire unit would likely be annihilated.
Price crawled to the most protected position he could

(19:38):
find, a shallow depression behind a volcanic rock, and set
up his radio. Japanese bullets struck all
around him, chipping fragments from the rock that cut his face.
Despite the danger, he maintained his composure and
transmitted a message in the Navajo code explaining their
exact position in the enemy formation surrounding them.

(20:01):
The response was immediate. Within minutes, Marine artillery
began laying down a protective barrage that kept the Japanese
at Bay. Then, guided by Prices
continuing transmissions, a relief force maneuvered to
outflank the Japanese positions.After three hours of desperate
fighting, the trapped unit was rescued, with Prices

(20:23):
communications having played thedecisive role in their survival.
Such incidents occurred repeatedly throughout the
battle. Code talker Samuel Holiday,
stationed with the 4th Marine Division, recalled a similar
experience. We were pinned down by heavy
fire, couldn't move forward or backward.
The Japanese had us zeroed in. Our commander needed air support

(20:47):
but couldn't risk the Japanese intercepting the request.
I sent the message in our code and 20 minutes later Corsairs
fighter planes showed up and hitthe Japanese positions.
We could advance after that. Without the code, I don't think
many of us would have made it off that island.
As the battleground on into March, the code talkers faced

(21:10):
increasing physical challenges. Many had gone days with minimal
sleep, subsisting on K rations and whatever water could be
found on the parched island. The constant stress of combat
combined with the mental demandsof rapid code transmission and
translation pushed them to theirlimits, Yet they continue

(21:31):
performing with remarkable accuracy and speed.
Major Howard Connor, the 5th Marine Division signal officer,
later stated were it not for theNavajos, the Marines would never
have taken Iwo Jima. He noted that during the first
two days of the battle, his 6 Navajo Code Talkers transmitted
more than 800 messages without error.

(21:54):
They were the only ones we couldn't break, Major Connor
said, referring to the Japanese forces inability to decipher the
code. The battle for Iwo Jima finally
ended on March 26th, 1945, after36 days of some of the most
brutal fighting in the Pacific War.
Of the 21,000 Japanese defenders, only 216 were taken

(22:18):
prisoner, the rest fought to thedeath.
American casualties were staggering, nearly 7000 dead and
more than 19,000 wounded among the code talkers.
Casualties were also high. While exact numbers are
difficult to establish due to the classified nature of their
work, several were killed or wounded during the battle.

(22:41):
Those who survived carried both physical and psychological scars
from the experience. Thomas H Begay, reflecting on
his experiences decades later, said Iwo Jima was hell on earth.
I saw things there no human being should ever see, but I
also saw incredible courage fromthe Marines, from my fellow

(23:02):
Navajos, from everyone who fought there.
We knew what we were doing was important, not just for the
battle, but for the whole war effort that kept us going when
everything else seemed hopeless.The significance of the Code
Talkers contribution to the victory at Iwo Jima cannot be
overstated. Their ability to transmit

(23:23):
secure, rapid communications enabled the kind of coordination
between ground forces, naval gunfire, and air support that
such a complex operation required.
Without them, American casualties would likely have
been even higher, and the battlemight have dragged on even
longer. Beyond the tactical impact, the

(23:43):
psychological effect on both sides was profound.
For American forces, the knowledge that their
communications were secure allowed commanders to operate
with confidence. For Japanese forces, the
inability to intercept and understand American
transmissions created significant disadvantages,
preventing them from anticipating American movements

(24:06):
and denying them crucial intelligence.
The Battle of Iwo Jima represented the pinnacle of the
Code Talkers contribution to thewar effort.
Their performance under the mostextreme conditions demonstrated
not only the effectiveness of their code, but also their
personal courage, resilience, and dedication to their dual
identity as Navajos and Americans.

(24:28):
In the annals of military history, few innovations have
had such an immediate and decisive impact on battlefield
operations as the Navajo Code. And nowhere was this impact more
evident than on the black volcanic sands of Iwo Jima,
where young men from the desertsof the American Southwest helped
secure one of the most difficultand costly victories of World

(24:49):
War 2. As important as the Navajo Code
Talkers were, they weren't the only Native Americans who used
their language for secure communications during World War
Two. Members of at least 14 other
tribes served as code talkers inboth the Pacific and European
theaters, including Comanche, Choctaw, Hopi, Cherokee, and

(25:11):
Lakota. The Comanche code talkers were
particularly significant in Europe. 17 Comanche men from
Oklahoma deployed with the 4th Infantry Division and
participated in the D-Day landings on Utah Beach.
Like the Navajo, they developed a specialized code based on
their language, using Comanche words to represent military

(25:33):
terms. They served throughout the
European campaign, including in the Battle of the Bulge.
In the push into Germany itself,Comanche code talker Charles
Chibetti recalled his D-Day experience.
We landed on Utah Beach the morning of June 6th, 1944.
We were in the first wave. The water was cold and the beach

(25:56):
was covered with obstacles to stop boats and tanks.
Being an Indian boy from Oklahoma, I had never seen the
ocean before. We hit the beach and set up
communications and began sendingmessages.
The first message sent from the beach was we made a good
landing. We're moving inland.

(26:17):
The Mesquaki Code talkers from the Mesquaki settlement in Iowa
served in North Africa, transmitting messages in their
native language. The Hopi, Lakota and others
performed similar roles in various theaters of operation.
Each group developed its own unique approach, adapted to the
specific needs of their units inthe inherent characteristics of

(26:39):
their languages. Other tribal members served in
North Africa, Italy, and throughout the Pacific.
Each group developed its own unique code based on its native
language, creating a mosaic of unbreakable communication
systems that gave Allied forces a crucial advantage in
battlefields around the world. The contributions of these

(27:01):
Native American warriors are allthe more remarkable given the
historical context in which theyserved.
Many code talkers had grown up in an era when their languages
and cultures were actively suppressed.
Government boarding schools for Native American children, which
many code talkers had attended, had explicitly forbidden the
Speaking of Native languages, often punishing children

(27:25):
physically for using their mother tongue instead of
English. The federal government's policy
toward Native American languageshad been explicitly
assimilationist throughout the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. Richard Henry Pratt, founder of
the influential Carlyle Indian Industrial School, summed up
this approach with the phrase Kill the Indian, save the man.

(27:48):
Native children were forcibly removed from their communities,
their hair cut short, their traditional clothing replaced
with Western garb, and their language is forbidden.
Many code talkers had direct experience with this system,
Chester Nez recalled. When I was at boarding school,
the teachers would punish us forspeaking Navajo.

(28:09):
They would wash our mouths out with yellow soap.
When they caught us speaking ourlanguage, they told us our
language was useless, that we would never need it in the
modern world. The irony was profound.
The very languages that the US government had tried to
eradicate, we're now helping to save American lives and secure
victory in the nation's most challenging war.

(28:31):
Code talker Chester Nez later reflected on this paradox.
We couldn't speak our language in school.
Now, using the same language, wewere helping to win the war.
This contradiction was not lost on the Code Talkers themselves.
Many saw their service as a demonstration of patriotism.
Despite the historical treatmentof their people.

(28:54):
They were fighting for America even as they preserved and
utilized the cultural heritage that America had once sought to
destroy. The Code Talkers motivations for
serving were complex and varied.Many were influenced by
traditional warrior ethics within their cultures, which
value bravery and service to thecommunity.

(29:15):
Some saw military service as an opportunity to gain respect and
demonstrate that Native Americans deserved full
citizenship rights. Others were simply caught up in
the patriotic fervor that swept America after Pearl Harbor.
For most, it was likely a combination of all these
factors. As Code talker Keith Little

(29:36):
later explained, the Navajo people were very patriotic.
They were very patriotic to the United States of America even
back then. Always have been.
When the United States called for help, the Navajo people have
been there. This patriotism existed
alongside a strong sense of tribal identity and cultural

(29:57):
pride. For many Code talkers, military
service wasn't seen as contradicting their Native
identity, but as an expression of traditional values adapted to
modern circumstances. Warrior traditions had deep
roots in many Native cultures, and military service offered a
contemporary way to fulfill these traditional roles.

(30:18):
Their service also connected to deeper cultural beliefs.
Many Native American cultures include traditional practices
for spiritual preparation and protection during warfare.
Code Talker Samuel Holiday described how he maintained
traditional spiritual practices throughout his service.
Before going into battle, I would say my prayers in the

(30:39):
Navajo way. I carried a small pouch of corn
pollen for spiritual protection.These traditions kept me safe
and gave me strength when thingswere at their worst.
The supreme irony of the Code Talker story continued after the
war ended. Despite their crucial
contributions to victory, their role remained classified.

(31:01):
The military, recognizing the potential future value of the
Code, swore the code talkers to secrecy for decades.
These men could not share their experiences, not with their
families, friends, or even fellow veterans, Code talker
Samuel So later recounted. When I got back home, people

(31:22):
asked me what I did in the Marines, and I had to tell them
I only dug foxholes because I couldn't tell them what I
actually did. It was classified information.
This secrecy created additional challenges for the returning
code talkers. Their experiences,
communications specialists should have provided valuable
qualifications for civilian employment.

(31:45):
Yet they couldn't list these skills on job applications or
explain the nature of their military service to potential
employers. Some struggled with post
traumatic stress, unable to fully process their combat
experiences even with close family members, because they
couldn't explain the context of their service.
When nightmares or flashbacks occurred, they had to invent

(32:07):
explanations or remain silent about the true sources of their
distress. Meanwhile, the broader
challenges facing Native Americans in post war America
remain daunting. Many code talkers returned to
reservations with limited economic opportunities,
inadequate infrastructure, and ongoing social and political

(32:27):
marginalization. The GI Bill, which provided
crucial educational and housing benefits to millions of
returning veterans, was often ineffectively implemented for
those living on reservations. The secrecy surrounding the Code
Talkers program finally lifted in 1968 when the Navajo Code was

(32:48):
declassified, but even then, public recognition was slow in
coming. It wasn't until 1982 that
President Ronald Reagan declaredAugust 14th as National Navajo
Code Talkers Day. Full congressional recognition
wouldn't come until the 21st century.
In 2000, Congress passed legislation awarding gold medals

(33:11):
to the 29 original Navajo Code Talkers, posthumously in most
cases, as only five were still living with silver duplicates to
each of the approximately 300 other Navajo Code Talkers who
served. President George W Bush
presented these medals in a White House ceremony in 2001,
finally granting official national recognition to their

(33:34):
extraordinary contribution. In 2002, similar legislation
recognized the contributions of code Talkers from other tribes,
leading to additional medal ceremonies in the years that
followed. After decades of silence, the
Code Talkers were finally receiving the recognition they
deserved. The belated recognition sparked

(33:56):
renewed interest in the Code Talker story books,
Documentaries, museum exhibits, and eventually the 2002 film
Wind Talkers, though criticized for historical inaccuracies and
its focus on a white protagonistrather than the Navajo
characters, brought their achievements to public
attention. Schools began including the Code

(34:17):
talkers and curriculum materials, ensuring that future
generations would learn about their contributions.
For the surviving Code Talkers, this recognition was bitter
sweet. Many of their comrades had
already passed away without everreceiving public acknowledgement
of their service. As code talker Samuel Holiday

(34:37):
put it, too many of my friends died without anyone knowing what
they had done for their country.Their story also reinforced
growing appreciation for the value of indigenous languages.
The same languages that government policy had once
sought to eliminate had proved invaluable to national security.
This recognition has contributedto broader efforts to preserve

(35:00):
and revitalize Native American languages, many of which remain
critically endangered today. The technical aspects of the
code itself deserve deeper exploration.
The dual layer system, using Navajo words as a code alphabet
while also creating code words for military terms, made the
code particularly secure. The alphabet allowed them to

(35:23):
spell any term that didn't have a specific code word, while the
specialized vocabulary enabled rapid transmission of common
military terms. For example, to communicate
about a battleship, they would use the Navajo word lozo,
meaning whale, but if they needed to name a specific ship,
they could spell it out letter by letter using the code

(35:45):
alphabet. W was glow IH weasel, O was
woolachi Ant, S was dibay sheep,P was bisodi pig, and so on.
The metaphorical nature of many code words reflected the Navajo
cultural connection to the natural world.
Aircraft carriers were bird carriers.

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Different types of planes were named after different birds.
Dive bombers were chicken Hawks.Observation planes were owls.
Fighter planes were hummingbirds.
Bombs were eggs. Grenades were potatoes.
Tanks were turtles. These associations, obvious to
Navajo speakers who understood the cultural context, were

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incomprehensible to outsiders. The system was continuously
refined throughout the war. The original Code dictionary
included about 211 terms, but bythe war's end it had expanded to
411 words, covering everything from types of ammunition to
geographical locations. The entire dictionary existed

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only in the minds of the code talkers.
Nothing was written down until after declassification,
eliminating the risk of the codebeing captured in document form.
The codes effectiveness stem from multiple factors.
First, the Navajo language itself is extraordinarily
complex. It uses tonal qualities similar

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to Chinese, where the same word pronounced with different
pitches can have entirely different meanings.
It's syntax is fundamentally different from Indo European
languages with verb structures and grammatical conventions that
have no parallels in English, German, or Japanese.
Second, the language was almost completely unknown outside the

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Navajo Nation. Before the war.
It had been studied by only a handful of linguists, none of
whom had achieved Native level fluency.
There were no Navajo dictionaries or comprehensive
grammatical guides available to potential code Breakers.
Third, the code layer built on top of the language added

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another dimension of security. Even if Japanese intelligence
had somehow captured a native Navajo speaker, which they never
did, that person would have beenunable to decipher messages
without knowledge of the specific code words and their
military meanings. The Japanese, for their part,
were aware that the Americans were using Native American

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languages for secure communications.
Japanese intelligence had studied some Native American
languages before the war, anticipating their potential
military use. However, they had focused
primarily on more widely spoken languages like Cherokee and
Choctaw, which had written formsand more extensive
documentation. They had not studied Navajo,

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which at the time was spoken almost exclusively within the
borders of the Navajo Nation. Japanese efforts to break the
Navajo code proved completely futile.
According to military intelligence reports, Japanese
code Breakers expressed immense frustration with these
transmissions, which they could neither transcribe nor analyze

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using their existing cryptographic methods.
As one captured Japanese officerreportedly said after the war,
if you had used Navajo language at the beginning of the war, we
would never have won the Battle of Guadalcanal.
The human stories behind the code are equally fascinating.
Consider Carl Gorman, one of theoriginal 29 code talkers.

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Born in 19 O 7 on the Navajo Reservation, Gorman was already
35 years old when he enlisted inthe Marines, considerably older
than most recruits. He had attended government
boarding schools where speaking Navajo was punished, yet
maintained his language fluency throughout.
After the war, Gorman became a renowned artist and educator,

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helping to preserve Navajo cultural traditions.
His son, RC Gorman, would becomeone of the most famous Native
American artists of the 20th century.
Or consider Chester Nez, the last surviving member of the
original 29, who passed away in 2014 at age 93.

(40:07):
Nez was raised by his grandfather after his mother
died when he was only three. He attended boarding schools
where speaking Navajo was forbidden, but continued using
his language at home. When recruited for the Code
Talker program, Nez had not yet completed high school but saw an
opportunity to serve his country.

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After the war, he completed his education under the GI Bill and
worked as a painter for the Veterans Administration Hospital
in Albuquerque. In 2011, he was awarded an
honorary bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas,
recognizing his lifetime of achievement.
The story of Wilson George Priceillustrates the remarkable

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journeys many code talkers experienced.
Born in a traditional Navajo family in Arizona, Price grew up
speaking only Navajo until age 10, when he was sent to a
government boarding school. There, he was punished whenever
he used his native language. After graduating in 1940, he
returned to the reservation, working as a minor until the

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attack on Pearl Harbor inspired him to enlist.
Selected for code talker training due to his exceptional
fluency in both Navajo and English, Price served in some of
the Pacific's bloodiest campaigns, including
Bougainville, Guam and Iwo Jima.Price recalled one particular
incident that highlighted the codes effectiveness during the

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Battle of Guam. We were moving inland when our
unit came under heavy fire. Our commander needed artillery
support quickly, but we were in range of Japanese radio
interceptors. I transmitted the request in our
code, giving precise coordinates.
Within minutes, shells were landing exactly where needed,

(41:54):
without the Japanese having any warning.
The Marines around me couldn't believe how quickly the support
came. They didn't know about the code.
They just knew that somehow I could make things happen on the
radio that no one else could. After the war, Price returned to
Arizona, completing his education under the GI Bill and

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eventually becoming a teacher. For decades, he couldn't tell
his students, his colleagues, oreven his children about his
wartime role. When the Code was finally
declassified, Price became an active advocate for recognition
of the Code talkers contributions and for
preservation of the Navajo language.

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He often visited schools, speaking to students about both
the historical significance of the Code and the continuing
importance of maintaining Nativelanguages and cultures.
The stories of individual Code talkers revealed both the common
threads of their experience and the diversity of their personal
journeys. Some, like Samuel Holiday, came

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from traditional families deeplyrooted in Navajo culture and
spirituality. Others, like William McCabe, had
been more thoroughly integrated into mainstream American Society
before the war. Some had attended high school or
college. Others had minimal formal
education. What united them was their
bilingualism, their commitment to their country despite its

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historical treatment of their people, and their extraordinary
capacity to perform under pressure in combat conditions.
The post war experiences of the Code talkers further illuminate
the complexities of American Society in the mid 20th century.
Some found opportunities open bytheir military service in the GI
Bill. Others returned to reservations

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were poverty, lack of infrastructure, and limited
economic opportunities remained endemic.
Many struggled with what we now recognize as Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder, compounded by their inability to fully share
their experiences due to classification restrictions,
Thomas H Begay, who served as a code talker at Iwo Jima, later

(44:03):
reflected. After the war, I had nightmares,
dreams about the Japanese comingat me with bayonets.
I'd wake up screaming. My family didn't understand what
was happening, and I couldn't tell them about what I'd done or
seen. Yet, despite these challenges,
most Code talkers expressed enduring pride in their service

(44:23):
and maintain strong connections to both their cultural heritage
and their identity as American veterans.
Many became leaders in their communities, advocates for
veterans issues, and guardians of cultural knowledge.
They embodied a dual patriotism,loyalty to their nation and to
their people, that transcended the contradictions of their

(44:44):
historical position. The Code Talker story also
connects to broader narratives about Native American military
service. Native Americans have served in
the US armed forces in every conflict since the Revolutionary
War, often at rates exceeding those of the general population.
During World War 2, approximately 44,000 Native

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Americans served in the military, about 1/3 of all able
bodied Native American men at the time this service occurred.
Despite the fact that many Native Americans weren't granted
US citizenship until 1924, and some still faced restrictions on
voting rights in certain states even during the war, this

(45:27):
history of service reflects complex motivations, traditional
warrior ethics within many tribal cultures, desire for
social recognition and economic opportunity, genuine patriotism
toward the United States alongside commitment to tribal
sovereignty, and individual reasons as diverse as the people
themselves. The Code Talkers represent a

(45:48):
particularly visible and dramatic example of this broader
pattern of Native American military contribution.
Their legacy continues to evolvein contemporary America.
In 2008, the National Code Talker Association was
established to preserve the memory of all Native American
Code talkers. An advocate for issues affecting

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Code Talker veterans and their families, the association also
works to ensure that the historical record accurately
reflects the contributions of Code Talkers from all tribal
nations involved. Educational initiatives have
increasingly incorporated the Code Talker story into
curriculum materials, helping younger generations understand

(46:30):
both their military contributionand the complex historical
context in which they served. Museums, including the National
Museum of the American Indian inWashington, DC, maintain
permanent exhibitions about the Code Talkers.
Perhaps most importantly, the Code Talkers example has
contributed to greater appreciation for indigenous

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languages and their preservation.
Many Native American languages remain in danger today with
dwindling numbers of fluent speakers.
The Code Talkers demonstrated the potential value of
linguistic diversity in the mostdramatic possible way as a
matter of national security. Their legacy has supported

(47:13):
arguments for language preservation efforts and
bilingual education programs within Native communities in
recent decades. Initiatives like the Native
American Languages Act of 1990, which established a federal
policy supporting the preservation of indigenous
languages, draw implicit connection to the historical
value these languages provided during wartime.

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The knowledge that seemingly obscure cultural heritage can
prove unexpectedly valuable in times of national crisis adds
practical weight to primarily cultural arguments for language
preservation. The Code Talker story continues
to resonate because it encompasses so many powerful
themes. Courage under fire, cultural
resilience, patriotism despite historical injustice.

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Ingenuity born of necessity, andredemptive irony.
The transformation of a suppressed cultural element into
a national asset. It challenges simplistic
narratives about both American history and Native American
experience, revealing the complex interweaving of
cooperation and conflict, contribution and exclusion that
characterizes this relationship.As the last World War 2 code

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talkers have passed away, responsibility for carrying
their story forward transitions to new generations.
Their legacy lives on in the continued service of Native
Americans in the US military, inrenewed efforts to preserve
Indigenous languages, in educational programs that teach
their history, and in the ongoing reconciliation between

(48:46):
tribal nations and the United States government.
What would the Code talkers themselves want us to remember
about their service? Based on their own words and
interviews and memoirs, several themes emerge.
Consistently. They took immense pride in their
contribution to victory. They valued recognition not
primarily for themselves as individuals, but for their

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people as a whole. They hoped their service would
improve conditions for Native Americans and increase respect
for their cultures and languages.
And they wish to be remembered not as victims of historical
circumstance, but as warriors who chose to serve with honor.
Perhaps Code talker Samuel Holiday expressed it most
succinctly when he said we're not heroes, we just did our duty

(49:32):
for our people and for America. In that simple statement lies
the dual patriotism that define the Code Talkers extraordinary
service, a commitment to both their ancestral nations into the
United States, transcending the historical conflicts between
them to meet the urgent needs ofa world at war.
Their legacy extends to the present day, where Native

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American servicemen and women continue to serve in the US
armed Forces at rates higher than any other ethnic group.
And while the specific circumstances that made the Code
Talkers necessary are unlikely to recur in an age of digital
encryption, the broader lesson remains relevant.
Cultural diversity represents not a weakness but a strength,

(50:14):
providing resources and perspectives that can prove
invaluable in unexpected ways. The survival and revitalization
of Native American languages also stand as part of the Code
Talkers legacy on the Navajo Nation.
Today, immersion schools teach children the language that once
helped win a World War. Similar efforts exist in many

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tribal communities working to preserve linguistic heritage for
future generations. While these efforts face
substantial challenges, the dominance of English and media
and commerce limited resources for language programs in the
passing of elder fluent speakers.
They draw inspiration from the Code Talkers example of how
language preservation can have significance beyond cultural

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identity alone. The National Cryptologic Museum,
operated by the National Security Agency, maintains an
extensive exhibit on the Code Talkers, recognizing their
contribution to the development of secure communications.
Military communications specialists still study their
methods not for the specific code, which would be obsolete in

(51:23):
modern electronic warfare, but for the principles of security
through cultural and linguistic uniqueness.
In 2013, the US Mint issued a series of commemorative coins
honoring the Native American code talkers from various
tribes. Each coin featured design
symbolizing the specific contribution of different tribal

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nations to the Code talking program, representing a small
but significant acknowledgement of the diversity within this
shared legacy. Hollywood's treatment of the
code talker story has been mixed.
The 2002 film Wind Talkers, while bringing their story to
mainstream audiences, was criticized for using the Code
talkers primarily as a backdrop for a story centered on white

(52:07):
characters. More recent documentaries and
independent films have sought tocenter Native voices and
experiences, allowing code talkers and their descendants to
tell their own stories without mediation.
In schools across America, the Code Talker Story provides
teachers with a compelling entrypoint for discussing both World

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War 2 history and Native American experiences.
The narrative challenges conventional assumptions about
who contributes to American security and allows the
exploration of complex themes about cultural identity,
patriotism, and reconciliation without simplistic resolution.
As we reflect on the extraordinary achievement of the

(52:48):
Code Talkers, perhaps their mostenduring lesson is about the
resilience of the human spirit, its capacity to find opportunity
and adversity, to maintain dignity in the face of
discrimination, and to transformpainful history into purposeful
action. They remind us that patriotism
can take many forms, that service to country need not

(53:09):
require abandonment of cultural identity, and that seemingly
marginal perspectives can sometimes provide solutions to
the most urgent problems. The Navajo greeting Yeti
translates roughly as It is good, a statement affirming the
fundamental goodness of existence despite its
challenges. The Code Talkers embody this
philosophy, finding goodness andpurpose amid the horror of war,

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creating opportunity from historical oppression, building
bridges between worlds that seemto reconcilable.
Their legacy is not just the messages they transmitted during
wartime, crucial as those were, but the ongoing message their
lives and service continue to transmit to us today.
That's all for today. On WW2 Stories, I'm Steve

(53:55):
Matthews, reminding you that history isn't just about grand
strategies and sweeping movements, but about the
remarkable individuals who shaped events through their
courage, ingenuity, and sacrifice.
Until next time, stay curious and keep exploring the past.