In honor of Native American Heritage Month, we’re highlighting an important group of heroes in Marine history: the Navajo Code Talkers.
This remarkable group of Marines played a pivotal role in World War II and were crucial in securing victory over Japan. During the Pacific Theater in 1942, allied forces struggled to send messages that the Japanese enemy couldn’t decipher. This proved a huge problem, since secret, effective communication is vital for winning battles during war.
"The things we did, using our language in the war, saved our country, our people, the American people, and all our allies in World War II."
- Bill Toledo
The problem was solved by drawing on one of America’s earliest languages. The Marines recruited 29 Native Americans from the Navajo nation and brought them to bootcamp in San Diego.
The fighting spirit and ethos were aligned – by utilizing the Navajo native language, the Navajo Code Talkers created an unbreakable code. Messages that took transmitters 30 minutes to transmit took the Navajo Code Talkers only 20 seconds.
Over the course of the war, 600 code words were developed and the Navajo Code Talkers aided every battle in the Pacific. Their messages provided an unbreakable code necessary to communicate on the battlefield effectively. They turned the course of battle, which ultimately shaped America’s way to glory.
