Soldiers' Stories | Native American Soldiers: Code Talkers

The Navajo code is the only unbroken code in modern warfare. It ensured the end of WWII by assuring the US victory in Japan. Only one original Navajo code talker still survives; Code Talker is his story. The Japanese had managed to crack every code the United States used. US military intelligence turned to the Navajo recruits and their native language to create a secret military code that the Japanese were unable to break and allowed embattled regiments of Marines to communicate quickly, concisely and above all, securely.

This book tells the full story of the Comanche Code Talkers for the first time. Drawing on interviews with all surviving members of the unit, their original training officer, and fellow soldiers, as well as military records and news accounts, William C. Meadows follows the group from their recruitment and training to their active duty in World War II and on through their postwar lives up to the present.

Osprey's examination of the Native Americans' participation in World War II (1939-1945). Ed Gilbert uses personal interviews with veterans to tell their fascinating story. Beginning with the first operational use of Native American languages in World War I, he explores how in World War II the US again came to employ this subtle, but powerful "weapon." Despite all efforts, the Japanese were never able to decode their messages and the Navajo code talkers contributed significantly to US victories in the Pacific. Approximately 400 Navajos served in this crucial role. Their legend of the "code talker" has been celebrated by Hollywood in films, such as Windtalkers, and this book reveals the real-life story of their extraordinary involvement in World War II.

During World War II, the Navajo Code Talkers devised and employed a secret code using their native tongue, a code which proved totally undecipherable to the enemy, enabling American forces to prevail in the South Pacific.

The Navajo Code Talkers describes how the U.S. Marine Corps recruited young Navajo warriors to create a secret code, using their native language that many of them had once been forbidden to speak. The Navajo Code Talkers played decisive roles in the Pacific Theater and helped turned the tide in the bloody battles for Bougainville, Cape Gloucester, New Britain, Saipan, Guam, Peleliu, and Iwo Jima.

This is the story of Philip Johnston, of his life and growing up on the reservation, and the development and use of that Navajo Code

The American offensive in the Pacific during World War II [was] hampered by the Japanese ability to crack the most secret U.S. Codes. Navajo was virtually unknown outside the reservations, ... and [their] code proved uncrackable. Kenji Kawano's striking photographs capture the quiet dignity of the surviving veterans as they recall their actions --Los Angeles Times