World War II

“Code Talkers”

Who the Navajos were:

• Their tribes were located in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico.

• Navajo children were forbidden to speak their native language and

were taught English.

The United States were in trouble due to communication.

In February 1942 they thought of the idea to have a secret code which couldn’t be cracked by the enemy.

Philip Johnson thought of the code.

They used the Navajo basis for the unbreakable code.

• Everyone had to know the code by heart.• By October 1942 twenty-seven of the

original code talkers were sent to Guadalcanal to participate in the Allied offensive.

• The rest of the code talkers stayed to teach the code to others.

• By now the Navajos were hiding, they could go for days without food, so they were hard to find.

• The Navajos were getting more efficient, soon they would be indispensable.

• In 1944 the Navajos arrived on the beach of Saipan with the Marines.

War in the Pacific•Due to Location, Saipan was a much-needed base of operations for the Allies.•The island would be used for the initial bomb run over Tokyo’s industries.•The crew of “Waddy’s Wagon” would soon be the fifth B-29 to take off on the initial mission,

and the first to safely return after successfully bombing the Japanese targets.•On 15 June 1944, the 2nd and 4th U.S. Marine Divisions would descend on the island

supported by massive Naval and Army Air Corps, would be joined by the U.S. Army’s 27th Infantry Division. The battle for Saipan would be part of the Marianas Campaign.

•One month before U.S. invasion forces arrived at their Pacific Island target of Saipan, the American military experienced another disaster at Pearl Harbor on May 21, 1944 at West Loch. 500 men were killed or wounded. Critical supplies for the Saipan Invasion were gone.

•A quick stop in Pearl Harbor had turned deadly for the invasion forces.

Marines took a mountain gun and a small canon from the Japanese and used it on Garapan.

The code talkers avoided disasters that could have cost them their lives.

Even though the disasters were avoided, many people died. Some they buried at sea and some were buried on the island.

Code Talkers Avoid Disaster

Banzi Charge• July 7th there was a banzi charge, that is

where the Japanese would charge in huge numbers trying to kill as many Americans as possible.

• Most Japanese were armed with rocks and sticks with knives on the ends.

• The total dead were 4,311.

• The next day a large amount of Japanese committed suicide.

• At 4:15 p.m. Saipan time, on July 9th, the island was officially declared “secured." Four months later, one hundred B-29s left Saipan for their first massive air raid over Tokyo.

• The Saipan casualty toll was stunning:• Japanese known dead:23, 811• Japanese dead in caves: Uncounted• Japanese Prisoners of war:298• Korean Prisoners of war:438• Americans wounded in action:13,061• Americans killed in action:3,225• Americans missing in action:326• News that Saipan had been lost to the Allies

shocked the Japanese government. The Premier, Hideki Tojo, resigned. So did his entire cabinet. (Tojo was hanged for war crimes in 1948.)

• In 1942, when the original 29 code talkers developed their "secret weapon," there were about 50,000 members of the Navajo nation. By the end of the war, 540 men had served as Marines. At least 400 of those were trained code talkers. Many had learned the 411-word vocabulary at Camp Pendleton where the secret operation was moved early in 1943.

• For decades following the war, the Navajos’ contribution went unrecognized due to national security issues. It wasn’t until 1968 that anyone outside the military knew about the code. The code talkers were even forbidden to tell their families about their exploits. But in July of 2001, the President and Congress of the United States honored the 29 code creators. Only five were still alive. Four went to the White House; the other was represented by his son.

• The remarks of President Bush expressed the belated gratitude of a nation whose victory in the Pacific may not have been possible without the Navajos. Working around the clock, six code talkers flawlessly communicated 800 messages.

•On July 26, 2001 the 4 surviving code talkers metthe president.•The original Navajo code talkers received a goldmetal others received silver who served later.•The president issued that November be NationalAmerican Indian heritage month.•President Reagan’s declared that on august 141982 as national code talkers day.•There was a movie made to honor the codetalkers with a movie called wind talkers.

Code Talkers Honored

Questions

• What did the marines take from the Japanese?

• The United States were in trouble due to?

• On July 7th there was a banzi charge, what were most of the Japanese armed with?

Answers

• The marines took a mountain gun and a small canon from the Japanese.

• The United States were in trouble due to communication.

• The Japanese were armed with rocks and sticks with knives on the ends.