ipl-logo

How Did The Navajo People Use Code Talkers During Ww2

1482 Words6 Pages

During World War 2 (WW2) the United States of America (USA) needed a way to communicate with each other without the Germans or the Japanese intercepting their messages and consequently figuring out what they were saying, which could lead to their intelligence being leaked leading them towards losing the war. To do this they required unbreakable code, something that was completely unique and that nobody would be able to understand. This is when the idea of using a complex and almost unheard of language to communicate amongst troops was invented. Then came the Navajo, the Native American tribe whose language played a major role in communications in WW2 and led to the defeat of the Nazi’s. This wasn't the first time that a Native American troop …show more content…

He was an American WW1 veteran who grew up alongside the Navajo people and started speaking the language from a very early age. His father was a very big advocate for the rights of Navajo people as they had been treated so poorly in the past by colonisers and had been kicked out of their home. His father even visited the White House alongside members of the tribe to meet with President Roosevelt and pleaded with him to make the government treat the Navajo people better as they were treated horribly. Children were not allowed to speak their native tongue and were forced to speak English. If they were heard speaking Navajo, they would be punished to the extent of being given brutal chores,beaten or even locked up. As Philip’s father could not speak Navajo and wouldn’t be able to translate for the Navajo people at the Whitehouse who brought Philip with him to translate, Philip was 9 years old at this time. Philip continued to speak Navajo and eventually served in WW1. Growing up in a Navajo region and also serving in the military was vital for Johnston to come up with the idea of recruiting Navajo soldiers as code talkers as he grew up alongside the tribe but also understood the military and how war worked. Knowing both of these things played a huge role in the success of the code talkers. When Pearl Harbour was bombed, Philip Johnston knew that the USA needed a …show more content…

Johnson recruited 29 Navajo men to create the code. These men would create one of the most uncrackable codes which led to the success of code used by the U.S. This language was the perfect for code as very few people spoke Navajo and their language was not transcribed anywhere as there are no alphabets or symbols that exist in native american languages. Creating the code was not a simple task, the code talkers and the marine corps decided to create a code within the already existing language. In Navajo there are 3 different alphabets which means every word in their vocabulary is able to be said three different ways. This is significant to the fact that the code was unbreakable as it meant that the code talkers would substitute words frequently which prevented code repetition. Code repetition was a technique used in cryptography to identify code by highlighting what word or code was being used repeatedly which would lead people into figuring out what their enemies were saying, which could lead to their code being

Show More
Related
836 Words | 4 Pages

Because he was born during WWII, he was curious and wanted to learn about the war. His uncle, Jimmy James Smith Jr, was a Navajo marine and his aunt was an army nurse during the war. "The conversations I've had with Uncle Jim about his experiences in the war and the information he shared with me helped me understand what it was like on those grim and distant islands where the Marine Corps was the first to land. His uncle saw the code talkers as important people and never knew what they did until after the war." (Bruchac 219).

Read More
586 Words | 3 Pages

Secondly, another role of the Code Talkers was to teach other Navajos how to read, write and learn the codes. The article states, “Later, several hundred more Navajos would join the group and learn the secret code.” This meant that the codes could travel along more people and that the Code Talkers could gain more information about the Japanese troops. In summary, Code Talkers in World War II had to deliver messages and teach other Navajos how to read and write

Read More
548 Words | 3 Pages

That includes being able to talk in codes. As a result, Native American languages were used to communicate. The Navajo Code Talkers were a unit comprised of 400-500 Native Americans. They served as part of the United States Marines during World War II.

Read More
437 Words | 2 Pages

For instance, the code was based on the Navajo language and this was the languages used to create the code, therefore the code was hard to comprehend. This was hard to figure out because the Navajo language was unwritten back then. The author states, “After basic training in 1942, Nez's platoon was tasked with developing a code, based on the then-unwritten Navajo language.” This proves that the fact that it was in the Navajo language was one of the things that made the code hard to crack. To conclude, there are several reasons the code was hard to crack and the Navajo language was one of

Read More
741 Words | 3 Pages

This all changed with an idea from a man who grew up with the Navajo Indian Tribe, and he eventually formed a group known as the “Navajo Code Talkers”. The Navajo Code Talkers were vital to an Allied victory in World War II, because the Japanese couldn’t break the code, it allowed the Allies to quickly set up battle plans, and it also allowed them to never change their codes again. Philip Johnston was born into a religious family, and his father was a missionary on the Navajo Reservation that Philip grew up in. Although he wasn’t a Navajo, he did know their language and customs as a result from growing up there. Johnston began reading a newspaper one day.

Read More
736 Words | 3 Pages

In1855 Manuelito was recognized as a very powerful Chief who led the Navajo tribe to a better philosophy of education and peace. Chief Manuelito is the very last Navajo Chief and, as one of the greatest Chief’s, is significant for his leadership through the Long Walk. The Long Walk was truly an interminable and detrimental journey. Chief Manuelito was a Navajo Chief who helped carry all of his followers through the strenuous walk of three hundred fifty miles by foot, facing the conflicts of the U.S. Army forcing them out of their homeland, leading to the compromise through the treaty of Bosque Redondo. Chief Manuelito loyally stood next to his people.

Read More
1096 Words | 5 Pages

The Marines that fought were all in the military, and they were the ones fighting the Japanese in the war. The author places himself within the existing scholarship on this topic by emphasizing the unique role that Navajo code talkers played in the war effort, and their contributions to the ultimate victory of the United

Read More
1199 Words | 5 Pages

At the beginning of Code Talkers, before World War Two, while at mission school, Ned acts as a rebel when people discriminate against him and his culture. While at mission school, Ned and the other Navajos were not allowed to speak Navajo. So instead, “[Ned] learned Navajo songs and stories” “in the basement of the school or out behind the woodshed” (Bruchac 26). They may not have taken over the school, but they did do enough to keep their traditions alive, even when they were trying to be suppressed.

Read More
1074 Words | 5 Pages

“I thought about it a lot of times, to defend our land and the people. As a young man I thought that if I joined the marine corps my people would have the chance to enjoy the freedom” (Nez and Avila, 15). The Navajo Code Talkers, a branch of the Marines that created a coded communication spoken in their native tongue of Diné, were a major key in the American strategy during World War II in the Pacific. However, the Navajo men who served as the Code Talkers had to overcome their sheltered, racially stunted early life, survive the harsh conditions of the Pacific theater warfront, and then to keep all of their contributions to the war a secret until the government released classified documents decades later.

Read More
434 Words | 2 Pages

Almost all 29 of the original Navajo Code Talkers were given a gold medal by President George W. Bush (Navajo Code

Read More
567 Words | 3 Pages

In order to marry in the Navajo tribe you have to marry someone in another tribe. The Navajo religion worshipped many gods of wind and water. There were gods for almost every natural occurrence. There were sacrifices and spiritual dances like many other tribes to worship these gods. Code Talkers were Native American soldiers who helped in World War II, and they really made a difference for the United States.

Read More
193 Words | 1 Pages

The Code Talkers had to send information back and forth, all while keeping it completely hidden from the enemy. Their code had to be something that they were sure the enemy would never be able to figure out in order to keep the information hidden. Also, once the notes that held information

Read More
865 Words | 4 Pages

Remembering how difficult the language was to speak and understand he urged military leaders to use the language in a code. Leaders finally took a chance and recruited 30 Navajos to test out the code.(McCabe) Because the Navajo people didn’t keep birth records many of the Navajos were able to lie about their age and enlist with the original 30, people as young as 15 were enlisted. During training one Navajo dropped out due to undocumented reasons. In the 19th century the US government persecuted the Navajos, forcing the children to stop speaking and learning the language in boarding schools designed to eradicate the Native American culture.(Kirkus Reviews)

Read More
1757 Words | 8 Pages

Navajo Code talkers were heros to our country and have waited years to be properly acknowledged for their heroic deeds. The unbreakable code based around the Navajo language and the language is one of the hardest to learn. The code had 411 terms that the Navajos turned words into military terms. The code was never broken even after the War. The Navajos life before the war consisting them never leaving there reservations.

Read More
1677 Words | 7 Pages

This coded language is meant to build a sense of

Read More

More about How Did The Navajo People Use Code Talkers During Ww2

Open Document