Navajo Code Talkers Research Paper

Navajo Indians were enlisted to convey top secret communications for the U.S. Marines after the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Known as Navajo Code Talkers, these young men created an oral cryptogram the enemy was unable to decipher, fulfilling a vital role during World War II and saving an innumerable amount lives. For the American Armed Forces, communications, which had always been a multifarious issue, had now become a bewildering burden. Japanese cryptographers were proving themselves amazingly capable of breaking top secret military codes almost as quickly as newer, more intricate procedures could be made. Many of the Japanese code breakers had been schooled in the United States where they had learned to speak English and had become familiar with the American way of life. Knowing the language and slang terms meant that the Japanese knew every possible code the Americans could come up with, and therefore the Americans sought a
Navajo code talkers served with all six Marine sects in the Pacific and with Marine Raider and parachute units. Praise for their work became boundless as they joined in major Marine assaults and many key battles, including the Solomons, the Marianas, Peleliu, and Iwo Jima. Major Howard Conner, the Fifth Marine Division’s Signal Officer, in speaking about the key Allied win at Iwo Jima, commented that “The entire operation was directed by Navajo code. During the two days that followed the initial landings I had six Navajo radio nets working around the clock. They sent and received over 800 messages without an error. Were it not for the Navajo Code Talkers, the Marines never would have taken Iwo Jima.” The Navajo code, and the Indians that fought were vital to the victory at Iwo Jima that eventually led to the Allies’ defeat of Japan at Okinawa and finally the atomic bomb at