Navajo Code Talkers Facts
for kids
The following fact
sheet contains interesting information, history and
facts on Navajo Code Talkers for kids. Refer to the
Navajo Tribe for additional facts.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts for kids: The Windtalkers
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 1: Philip Johnston
(1892 - 1978) was the son of a missionary and was raised
on the Navajo reservation in Leupp, Arizona.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts -
2: Playing with
Navajo children he learned how to speak their language.
The Navajo language had no written alphabet and was
known to only the people of the Navajo tribe and a few
missionaries.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 3: In 1901, when he was just 9
years old, he traveled to Washington D.C. with his father and local
Navajo leaders to lobby for Indian rights and acted as a translator
for President Theodore Roosevelt.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 4: Philip Johnston left the
reservation to earn a civil engineering degree at the University of
Southern California and served in the U.S. Army's 319th Engineers
during WW1.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 5: During his time in the army it
is possible that Philip Johnston encountered Code Talkers from the
Choctaw and Comanche tribes. In 1918 US troops involved in the Meuse-Argonne
Offensive on the Western Front. Communications in the field were
being severely compromised. The Germans were successfully tapping
Allied telephone lines, deciphering codes and repeatedly capturing
runners sent out to deliver messages directly.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 6: The huge problem
was solved when an army captain heard two Choctaw
soldiers talking in their own language and realized the
potential for solving the communications problem. Using
a field telephone the captain tested the idea and asked
the men to deliver a message in their native tongue
which their colleagues quickly translated back into
English. The test was successful and the Choctaw
Telephone Squad was established and 'code talking' was
born.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 7: Philip Johnston
survived the Great War and returned home to work as a
civil engineer. He was in his fifties when WW2 broke
out. Motivated by his experiences on the WW1
battlefields in Europe he developed a plan that he was
sure could help the war effort.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 8: His plan was
centered around using Navajo Code Breakers to help the
marines fighting in WW2. His proposal was initially
greeted with skepticism by the US Marine Corps.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts -
9: Following the
Great War, and the success of the Native American Code
Talkers, German nationals had visited America with the
express purpose of learning the languages of Native
American Indian tribes. It was therefore believed that
the notion of using these languages to protect military
communications had long passed as the Third Reich would
have knowledge of the languages.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 10: Philip Johnston
persisted with his plan. The Navajo language was unique
and did not have a written alphabet. The Navajo tribe
came from a remote region, and only a handful of
non-Navajos had any knowledge of the language.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts -
11: The WW2 Marines
were fighting bloody battles with the Japanese in the
Pacific. As the marines stormed the beaches they
communicated via radio but the Japanese were able to
intercept and translate their messages.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 12: In the height of battle there
was no time to use a code machine. Once again US communications were
being compromised by the enemy, just as they had in WW1
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts -
13: Eventually Philip
Johnston's idea was put to the test at Camp Elliott near
San Diego, California. The trial run was successful and
the recruitment and training of the Navajo Code Talkers
began in May 1942.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts -
14: On September 22,
1942 Philip Johnston was granted a special dispensation
to serve in the Navajo Code Talking Program as a Staff
Sergeant and he served throughout WW2 as a training
school administrator for the top secret program.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 15: Recruitment was
conducted on the Navajo Reservation. Each recruit had to
be fluent in both Navajo and English and physically fit.
The recruits were sent for basic training at the San
Diego Marine Corps Recruit Depot boot camp.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 16: The Navajos were
told only that they would be 'specialists' and would
serve both in the United States and overseas. Serving in
the US Army was a culture shock to many of the Navajos
who had never left the reservation and had no knowledge
of the US military nor of the battles being fought in
WW2.
Continued...
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts for kids: The Windtalkers
Facts
about the Navajo Code Talkers Facts for kids
The following fact
sheet continues with interesting information, history and facts
on Navajo Code Talkers for kids.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts for kids: The Windtalkers
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 17: The Navajo
recruits were then taken to Camp Pendleton for
training in standard radio procedures. Initially it
would appear that the Navajo language itself would be
enough to provide the required level of security but
from the beginning it became obvious that some forms of
word substitution would be necessary as the Navajo
language contained no words to describe the modern
instruments of war.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 18: Words from the
Navajo language were substituted as tanks were called
'turtles', airplanes were called 'birds', bombers were
called 'buzzards', grenades were called 'potatoes' and
battleships were called 'whales'.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts -
19: The Marines Corps
soon realized that they could make the code system
virtually unbreakable by further encoding the language
which would completely confuse their Japanese enemies.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 20: The Navajos devised a new
Marine Corps military code by creating a dictionary using word
substitution together with a secret 26-letter phonetic alphabet. The
26-letter phonetic alphabet, used Navajo names for 18 birds or
animals plus the words like ice for I, nut for N, quiver for Q and
yucca for Y. Over 200 English words were substituted with Navajo
equivalents.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 21: The secret codes were memorized for
added security to protect the code from falling into
enemy hands. The the code became undecipherable to
everyone but the Navajo Code Talkers.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 22: The Navajos used
their top secret skills in secure communications in the
South Pacific on Saipan, Tarawa, Peleliu and Guam.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts -
23: At the Battle of
Iwo Jima over 800 messages were transmitted without
error by 6 Navajos working 24 hour shifts during the
first 48 hours of the conflict as US marines struggled
to get to shore under intense Japanese bombardment.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 24: Major Howard, the 5th Marines
Division Signal Officer, stated that, 'Were it not for the Navajos,
the Marines would have never taken the island. The work ofthe
Navajos on Iwo Jima was impressive...they provided an indispensable
advantage to those who wore the Globe and Anchor".
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 25: In 1942, there were about
50,000 Navajo tribe members. By the end of WW2, in 1945, over 400
Navajo Code Talkers served in the Marine Corps as Code Talkers.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 26: The story of the Navajo code
talkers were featured in the 1959 movie 'Never So Few' starring
Charles Bronson and in the 2002 movie 'Windtalkers' starring Nicolas
Cage.
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts - 27: The Navajos were sworn to
secrecy and their achievements in WW2 were not made public for many
years. In 2001 Congress awarded the Congressional Gold Medal,
the highest civilian honor available in the United States, to
recognize the unique contribution made by the Navajo Code Talkers of
WW2
Navajo Code Talkers
Facts for kids: The Windtalkers
Navajo Code Talkers Facts for kids - President Franklin Roosevelt Video
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Navajo Code Talkers Facts provides detailed facts and a summary of one of the important events during his presidential term in office. The following
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