| A Word Edgewise by Mary Joe Clendenin |
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| A Word Edgewise by Mary Joe Clendenin |
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Last Updated 01/20/06
Navajo Code Talkers Helped Win World War II
Remember our desire for a secret code when we were kids? I think it was about the fourth or fifth grade level that we wanted to invent a code for our best friends. so that we could keep secrets from teachers and others. We invented simple--complicated to us--codes by assigning numbers to letters, by arranging the alphabet in different orders. And we sent off for secret code rings.
I can't remember the radio program, maybe it was Little Orphan Annie, or Jack Armstrong the All-American Boy, or some other, but they advertised Ovaltine of Wheaties, and we could send off a lid or two and a dime for that code ring. I think it worked by two alphabets set in circles with the outer ring to revolve. With a setting such as "A over V" corresponding letters would be used for the message. A very secret message would be broadcast on a specific program.
Ray enjoys working the Cryptograms in the paper where different letters stand for the real ones. He seldom finds one he can't solve. Difficult for me, but in the many systems of codes, among the simple.
Some codes are based on familiar books, such as Tale of Two Cities, or the Bible. In fact, it wouldn't have to be a familiar book, but one available to the senders and recipients.
With modern technology and intelligence, not many codes are unbreakable. The computers operators with search expertise and code programs soon find keys.
One of the most difficult codes developed during World War II was invented by Heddy Lamar, the movie queen. Having been married to a Nazi before escaping to England, she knew much about coding and the importance of information to enemies. Her code was based on musical harmonics--but no one took her idea seriously until nearly the end of the war.
In the Pacific War theater, one code was permanently successful in escaping solution by the Japanese. Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Peleliu, Iwo Jima: the Navajo code talkers took part in every assault the U. S. Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945. They transmitted messages by telephone and radio in their native language--a code that the Japanese never broke.
The idea for the Navajo communication came from Philip Johnston, son of missionaries on the Navajo reservation. He knew that Native American languages, especially Choctaw, had been used in World War I.
At the time of WWII, Navajo was an unwritten language with syntax and tonal qualities recognized only by those thoroughly familiar with it. It wasn't easy to convince the military leaders, but through tests, including one that proved that trained Navajos could encode, transmit and decode a three-line message in 20 seconds, Major Gemeral Clayton B. Vogel was convinced.
The code was not just a matter of changing languages, it involved a system of Navajo words that would stand for whole phrases. The system was taught to 29 Navajo recruits who developed a dictionary for military terms.
Major Howard Connor said, "Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima." Connor had six Navajo Code Talkers working around the clock during the first two days of the battle. Those six sent and received over 800 messages, all without error.
In 1942, there were about 50,000 Navajo tribe members. Approximately 540 served in the Marines in all capacities. It was in 1992 that the Navajo Code Talkers of WWII were honored for their contributions.
One of the last Code Talkers, Carl Gorman, died this year of cancer. He was an artist and teacher after his war service, and died at the age of 90. During the unveiling of a Code Talker monument in Flagstaff, Arizona, Carl Gorman said, "Many people ask me why I fought for my country when the government has treated us pretty bad. But before the white man came to this country, this whole land was Indian country and we still think it's our land, so we fight for it. I was very proud to serve my country."
The Flagstaff monument was sculped by Gorman's son, R. C. Gorman.
If you are interested in reading more about Carl Gorman, Henry and Georgia Greenberg have written a biography, Power of a Navajo--Carl Gorman.
Codes of various kinds will always be around, I suppose. My smartie grandson at UT recently sent me a thank you card written in Italian--an effective code as far as I was concerned. I've been intending to send him a message in pig-Latin--if I can remember just how to spell the words, or maybe my spelling would be extra encoding. I just may write that little message right now.