Navajo Code Talkers
Long Walk of the Navajo Navajo Indians
Navajo Nation
Navajo
Navajo Code Talkers
Navajo Times
Navajo Code Talkers Today
I was born in 1950, part of the post World War II baby boom, raised to obey my parents, be truthful, recited the Pledge of Allegiance and when I gave my word of honor I was expected to keep it. Although I believed I understood what giving my word of honor meant I was only partly right. Full and comprehensive awareness came to me during research regarding the Marine Corps Navajo code talkers of World War II.
The Navajo people live on a 25,000 square mile reservation that covers two thirds of Arizona, and spills into a small area of the Four Corners of Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. The landscape is starkly beautiful and laced with ribbons of red and cream colored sandstone formations. Goats, sheep, cattle, silver jewelry making and rug weaving are traditional and necessary parts of their lives. In 1865 they were forced, at gunpoint to Fort Sumner at Bosque Redondo on the Pecos River 350 miles southeast from to the Four Sacred Mountains. They endured the harsh environment of their captivity for three years before they signed a treaty and were allowed to return to their land.Over the next seven decades the Navajo Nation honored every article in the Treaty of 1868, the United States government was the party that failed to keep their word. Yet the Navajo people did not revolt against these injustices because they had given their word of honor to abide by it. Their exile from the Four Sacred Mountains taught them that nothing was more important than living on the land they received from their ancestors.
When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 Navajo men flocked to the nearest recruiting stations determined to serve and protect their people and the country their land lay within. The Marine Corps welcomed them and in the course of their duty created the only unbroken oral military code in the history of the world. Over four hundred Navajos became certified code talkers and served in every South Pacific campaign from Guadalcanal to Okinawa. The Navajo combat code saved thousands of lives during the course of the war and when the war was over their commanding officers told them to never reveal the code they had created and used to anyone; not their parents, relatives, wives or girlfriends until they were informed otherwise.
Without hesitation every one of them gave their word of honor to the Marine Corps that what they did during the war would remain a secret. As a result of giving their word of honor many code talkers took the secret of their service with them to their graves, leaving surviving family members with the scant knowledge that all they did during the war was be a part of the Marine Corps.
This secrecy presented a dilemma for the code talkers that would be impossible to solve. Navajos have many sacred ceremonies within their spiritual culture that provide healings; a restoration of the balance between the body, mind and spirit called hozhone. In order for a healing to be effective the person suffering physical or mental problems must tell the Medicine Man everything they experienced so the correct songs and herbs are used. The code talkers could not reveal what they experienced because they gave their word of honor not to tell anyone. The only healing ceremony they could participate in was the Blessing Way, which was conducted at informal tribal gatherings and anyone could participate. This was a poor substitute for those code talkers that had recurring nightmares of what they had witnessed and survived and could not access the healing they needed. Keeping their word of honor superceded the desire to be traditionally healed so many suffered in agonized silence.
When the code talkers returned home they did so without fanfare and used as many of the provisions of the GI Bill of Rights as they were entitled to. Over the next twenty years they changed the face and direction of the Navajo Nation by becoming teachers, business men, Council elders, Tribal Presidents, and artists. The experience of using their language taught them they didn't have to give away who they were in order to be accepted by the world outside of the reservation so they encouraged the younger generations to learn their language.
In 1969 the code talker program and the Navajo language based combat dictionary they created was finally declassified. One year later they formed a non profit organization called The Navajo Code Talkers Association. For the first time in twenty-four years the code talkers were allowed to tell their families and friends about the unique and valuable service they contributed during the war. They were invited to participate in Presidential inaugurations, Veterans Day parades, the Rose Parade, the Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial parade and the Navajo Nation Fair parade. To say this sudden attention overwhelmed them would be an understatement. In their minds the service they rendered to this country during the war was no greater or less than what any American contributed during the war.
When I began the search for the story of the code talkers I found that interviewing them was, at times extremely difficult. War is not only physically harsh on those who have endured combat but dealing with the mental and emotional aftermath was something I was unprepared for. Almost all of the code talkers I was privileged to interview were extremely forthright in relating their experiences, good and bad. Many of them opened up and related to me their entire story while others only felt comfortable in revealing certain aspects of their service. One code talker reluctantly agreed to reveal to me a banzai attack that occurred on Guadalcanal in October of 1942."The nights on Guadalcanal seemed to last forever. Our orders were not to move after dark and no lights. There was no casual chatter just the checking and re-checking of weapons. Then, without warning the Japanese would appear from nowhere screaming at the tops of their voices, 'Banzai! Banzai! Banzai!' They rushed our positions and everyone jumped into action. I sent an urgent coded message over the radio call for illuminating shells above our position and when the shells exploded high above our heads everyone was cast in a ghoulish green hue. The Japanese fought without regard for their lives or Marine lives and they did not stop until they were all dead. The entire attack might have only lasted maybe ten, fifteen minutes but it felt as though it had been hours. The carnage was surreal; I had never seen a dead enemy and the waste of life made me ill. It would be many hours before I could close my eyes to sleep and even then I saw the dead enemy scattered over the ground."
As he spoke I could visualize the insanity he was describing and I fought against emotions that were threatening to overwhelm me. He paused, as if to gather himself in order to proceed and then said, "It is not a good thing to make human beings become mindless killing machines. It is not good for the soul, heart or mind and the Japanese forced many a man to become the one thing humans must never become: mindless killers."
We sat in silence for quite some time. When it felt right I asked him if there was anything else he wanted to tell me and he shook his head no. I thanked him for the time he had given me then handed him a release form that would give me his permission to include the story in the book. He took a few minutes to review the document then handed it back to me unsigned. As this had never happened before I wasn't sure what to say to convince him to sign the release. I decided to ask him why he refused to sign and the answer I got surprised me.
He said, "When the war was over my commanding officer asked me for my word of honor that I would not tell anyone about the code or how I had used it until otherwise notified. He asked me if I understood and I replied, 'I give you my word of honor I will tell no one about the code or how I used it.' Until today, I have never said one word about what I did during the war. Both of my parents passed away without knowing and my wife and children are just now learning about it but I can't sign that paper."
I asked him if he knew that the code had been declassified in 1969 which released him from that promise. He said he was aware of it but he still couldn't sign it. I spent the next ten minutes patiently explaining how necessary his story was and how important a contribution it would be and that I would truly love to include it in the book. He asked me if what he said could be included without his name and I told him I didn't know if my publisher would agree to it. I said I understood the promise he made forty-five years ago and reiterated that he was no longer bound to that promise.
What he said next sent a wave of chills down my spine. He said, "I understand that the order of silence has been lifted but, how do I declassify my word of honor?" In that moment I fully understood the meaning of that oath. I also knew that I would convince my publisher that his story would be included in the book without his name attached to it. I smiled at him and replied, "I give you my word of honor that your name will not be attributed to the story you just told me." He signed the release after I included in writing what I had sworn to, shook my hand and wished me good luck with the book.
As I drove back to my hotel I silently thanked God for allowing me to live in a country that nurtured such an honorable Native American. The book was published with my and the code talkers word of honor intact.by Sally McClain
Author, Navajo Weapon
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