ipl-logo

The Navajo Code Talkers In World War II

501 Words3 Pages

Have you ever wondered how US soldiers communicated on the battlefield? This essay is about the Navajo Code Talkers and how they were very important in World War II. One of my topics will be the origin of the Navajo Code and it’s select few of talkers. My second topic will be how the code was used in World War II. My last topic will be about the remaining code talkers that are still alive and the memorials. This uncrackable code originated from a native american tribe from southwest United States. This tribe is called the Navajo and the states that it’s located in are Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. This tricky code was never cracked during the time that it was utilized in World War II. The code itself was based on the Navajo Language. Whenever the original code talkers became marines, they did not have trouble with the physical fitness test because they were used to manual labor due to the lack of technology within their tribe. The idea of using the this language and turning it into a code for communicating on the battlefield came from Philip Johnston. Philip Johnston was the son of some …show more content…

The code talkers were deployed on some islands near mainland Japan. The Navajo natives were first used by the United States Marine Corps in May 1942. There were lots of Navajo natives recruited into the Marine Corps at this time. The total amount of Navajo natives that were employed by the United States Marine Corps for the extent of the war was five hundred forty. Four hundred of those soldiers were used as code talkers. Though this is the most memorable, this wasn’t the only time that the United States has used a native american language as a code for communicating on the battlefield. According to the CIA, the United States military had used the Choctaw language as a tool on the battlefield during World War I. This was very useful at first, but Germany and Japan had come to learn this

Show More
Related
417 Words | 2 Pages

In the novel, Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac, the literary conflict of Man versus Society and the importance of the Navajo code talkers highlights the theme of racial equality, the qualities that determine character are not the ones on the outside, but the ones on the inside, through internal and external examples. During mission school, the white people taught the Navajos that the white people know everything. This concrete detail explains that white people thought they were superior to the Native Americans. The bilagaanaas, or white people, thought their culture was better than the Navajos’, but the Navajos’ culture aided in the success of World War II. Ned had realized that the bilagaanaas were not born knowing everything, white men, were

Read More
386 Words | 2 Pages

Roger Williams used different keys in order to communicate with the native Indians. This key respects the native language of it, and happily may unlock some rarities concerning the natives themselves, not yet discovered (Williams 103). When he approached to the Native Indians, he had an agenda, which contained four main points that he wanted to cover during his visit (Williams 104). First, he wanted to understand the Native Indian’s names. He realized that the English gave those names like natives, salvages, Indians, wild men, pagans, barbarians, among others.

Read More
244 Words | 1 Pages

Barre Toelken: The Moccasin Telegraph and Other Improbabilities a Personal Essay Page 51 I found it interesting the different folklore that surrounded the Navajo people involving the moccasin telegraph. It would be hard idea for outsiders to rationalize how these people just have these premonitions that things are going to happen or that they need to go somewhere.

Read More
930 Words | 4 Pages

The Navajo Native Americans played a large role in World War II. First off, they used their language to communicate coded messages. The text says,¨Navajo Code Talkers, warriors who used their native language as their primary weapon during World War II (WWII).¨ This means, The Navajo language was primarily used to tell the Allies what Japan had planned. Also, Twenty-nine Navajos created a code from their language. The selection reads,¨The first 29 Navajos to be recruited for the group, dubbed the "Original 29.

Read More
127 Words | 1 Pages

Northeast Native Americans Communication The Native Americans of the Northeast’s communication is Iroquoian and Algonquian. The Cayuga, Oneida, Erie, Seneca, Onondaga, and Tuscarora spoke the Iroquoian language. The Algonquian language is going extinct, there for they are learning different languages to speak with other tribes. The Northeast language is endangered because they wanted to speak different languages to speak with different tribes. Their number system was made up of various shapes and lines (located next to the tepes).

Read More
1136 Words | 5 Pages

Languages are an important part of any culture, especially dying cultures that need to be preserved. This true for the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, a group of Native American tribes who originally spoke many different languages. They were all forced onto a small reservation, completely wiping out their lifestyle and almost completely wiping out their language. Their story needs to be told, both how they almost lost their language forever, and how they are rebounding today. To preserve the culture of the Confederation of Siletz Indians, the story of their languages needs to be told because their culture has been lost, but a language offers a way to save part of the culture, and their story can provide to hope to many Native peoples

Read More
565 Words | 3 Pages

In the Code Talkers, Ned learns American ways and goes to serve in World War Two by being a Code Talker. In the novel, it shows the ability to find strength and courage through one's culture. The four examples I choose was Ned not wanting to forget his language, doing the Blessingsway ceremony, working hard/not giving up, and learning self-confidence as a marine. When Ned was in boarding school the teachers would punish Navajo children if the spoke Navajo. For some, the punishment was bad enough that it was hard to speak Navajo, but for Ned, it made him not want to forget it.

Read More
126 Words | 1 Pages

The Navajo Origin legend is one of hundreds of other interpretations of how man originated. From Christianity to Buddhism most religions have a somewhat different interpretation. Often they Includes things from that particular religion. For example: In the Navajo Origin Legend they have things like buckskins and eagle feathers, these are all things that exist in native american culture. Also most of these tales tell a story that have similar events.

Read More
469 Words | 2 Pages

His cultural aspects and renewed self-worth are grown by the war and help him along the way. Ned’s cultural Navajo identity is affected by World War II. For example, Ned says that he, "Pray[s] that none of you have to go to battle as I did. I also pray that you will fight to keep our language, to hold on to it with the same warrior spirit that our Indian people showed during that war.” (214) Ned’s language is an important aspect of his culture.

Read More
865 Words | 4 Pages

The Navajo Code Talkers were Native Americans who translated, encoded, and decoded messages during World War II. (Demma) What the code talkers accomplished amounts to much of the US’ success at Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal. After the Choctaw code talkers success in World War I the US was open to new code ideas during World War II.

Read More
925 Words | 4 Pages

The acclaimed Canadian author Joseph Boyden is often praised for providing an insightful look into Indigenous culture and history through his debut, Three Day Road. While the novel does explore the haunting memories of an Indigenous soldier, it also tackles concepts about storytelling and the power of words. Consequently, this essay investigates the question; How does Joseph Boyden use literary devices and narrative structure in Three Day Road to illustrate the power of stories and language? The novel serves as an examination of the power of words and the different roles they play in communication,

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
500 Words | 2 Pages

The Native Americans many times did not understand what the soldiers were doing, from this the Sioux became scared and fled. Furthermore, Reno’s battalion had coverage from the landscape which cause mass confusion, among both groups. From the eyes of George Henderson, the Native Americans truly never faltered; however, as it was mentioned they could not truly see the battalion. The one statement made from both sides was the Native Americans fled. Though no party considered the other weak, they both felt fear, both the battalion and the Native Americans became confused during this battle.

Read More
669 Words | 3 Pages

They felt that this country was taken away from them by the white man and should not be required to help in the case of attack, but when war was declared against the Axis powers, The Navajo Nation declared: “We resolve that the Navajo Indians stand ready… to aid and defend our government and its institutions against all subversive and armed conflict and pledge our loyalty to the system and a way of life that has placed us among the greatest people of our race” (Takaki 60). Altogether forty-five thousand Indians served in the U.S. armed forces. Despite this, Indian workers received lower pay that that of whites, In the cities, Indians also experienced discrimination. Ignatia Broker of the Ojibway wrote “Although employment was good because of the labor demand of the huge defense plants, Indian people faced discrimination in restaurants, night clubs, retail and department stores… and worst of all, in housing” (Takaki

Read More
558 Words | 3 Pages

Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac is about Ned Begay, a Navajo code talker during World War II. Ned faced two life changing events that shapes who he is. First is his move to an American boarding school that forces him to act like someone else, later he becomes a Navajo code talker with even more hardships to face. During these pivotal events, Ned experiences similar situations that I have been through. Ned was living peacefully on the Indian reservations until he has to go American boarding school hundred miles away.

Read More

More about The Navajo Code Talkers In World War II

Related Topics

Open Document