How We Help|Stories|Find a USO|Take Action|About UsSearchMonday, Nov 1, 2021How Navajo Code Talker Marines UsedTheir Indigenous Language to Help WinWorld War IIBy Sandi Gohn400-plus men. 411 words. One unbreakable code.TheNavajo Code Talkers–U.S. Marines of Navajo descent who developed and utilized aspecial code using their indigenous language to transmit sensitive information duringWorld War II– are legendary figures in military and cryptography history.Their encrypted code, which was never cracked by the enemy, helped the United States win itsway across the Pacific front from 1942 to 1945. Historians argue that the Navajo Code Talkershelped expedite the end of the war and, undoubtedly, saved thousands of lives.“Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima,” saidMaj. HowardConnor, the signal officer of the Navajos at Iwo Jima in 1945.The Navajo People’s Indigenous Language Was Perfect for aCodeIn 1942, Philip Johnston – a son of missionaries who grew up on the Navajo Nation – came upwith the idea for the Navajo Code Talker program afterreading a news article about NativeAmerican soldiers delivering messages during Army training exercisesin their mother tongues.Johnston, a World War I veteran, also knew that the U.S. military had been experiencingdifficulties developing an unbreakable code for secure communication in the Pacific.
