FReeper Canteen ~ National Navajo Code Talkers Day, August 14 ~ 14 August 2017

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[Kathy in Alaska]

The FReeper Canteen Presents…..

~ August 14th … National Navajo Code Talkers Day! ~

On July 26, 2001, the original 29 Code Talkers were presented with the Congressional Gold Medal by President George W. Bush. This long awaited recognition occurred 56 years after World War II despite the fact that the Code saved thousands of lives. The Code had been de-classified in 1968.

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Showing support and boosting the morale of
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and family members of the above.
Honoring those who have served before.

The Navajo Code Talkers received no recognition until the declassification of the operation in 1968. In 1982, the code talkers were given a Certificate of Recognition by President Ronald Reagan, who also named August 14 "National Navaho Code Talkers Day."

How Great Thou Art ~ Choctaw

During World War II (1939-1945), the U.S. Marines trained Navajo soldiers as code talkers. During military campaigns in the Pacific, the Navajo soldiers relayed secret messages about troop movements and enemy locations in the Navajo language. Because of the complexity of the language, the Japanese were never able to decipher the code.

The idea to use Navajo for secure communications came from Philip Johnston, the son of a missionary to the Navajos and one of the few non-Navajos who spoke their language fluently.

Johnston, reared on the Navajo reservation, was a World War I veteran who knew of the military's search for a code that would withstand all attempts to decipher it. He also knew that Native American languages--notably Choctaw--had been used in World War I to encode messages.

Johnston believed Navajo answered the military requirement for an undecipherable code because Navajo is an unwritten language of extreme complexity. Its syntax and tonal qualities, not to mention dialects, make it unintelligible to anyone without extensive exposure and training.

It has no alphabet or symbols, and is spoken only on the Navajo lands of the American Southwest. One estimate indicates that less than 30 non-Navajos could understand the language at the outbreak of World War II.

In May 1942, the first 29 Navajo recruits attended boot camp. Then, at Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, California, this first group created the Navajo code. They developed a dictionary and numerous words for military terms. The dictionary and all code words had to be memorized during training.

Once a Navajo code talker completed his training, he was sent to a Marine unit deployed in the Pacific theater. The code talkers' primary job was to talk, transmitting information on tactics and troop movements, orders and other vital battlefield communications over telephones and radios. They also acted as messengers, and performed general Marine duties.

In this photograph, two Navajo Indians, Corporal Henry Bake, Jr., left, and Private First Class George H. Kirk, operate a portable radio set in a clearing they created in the dense jungle close to the front lines.

Praise for their skill, speed and accuracy accrued throughout the war. At Iwo Jima, Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division signal officer, declared, "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.

The Japanese, who were skilled code breakers, remained baffled by the Navajo language. The Japanese chief of intelligence, Lieutenant General Seizo Arisue, said that while they were able to decipher the codes used by the U.S. Army and Army Air Corps, they never cracked the code used by the Marines.

Cousins, Preston and Frank Toledo - Ballarat, Australia.
The Navajo code talkers even stymied a Navajo soldier taken prisoner at Bataan. (About 20 Navajos served in the U.S. Army in the Philippines.) The Navajo soldier, forced to listen to the jumbled words of talker transmissions, said to a code talker after the war, "I never figured out what you guys who got me into all that trouble were saying."

In a ceremony in the Capitol on July 26, 2001, the original twenty-nine Navajo "code talkers" received the Congressional Gold Medal, and subsequent code talkers received the Congressional Silver Medal.

It is the only unbroken code in modern military history. It baffled the Japanese forces of WWII. In fact, during test evaluations, Marine cryptologists said they couldn't even transcribe the language, much less decode it.

Click for more.

Chester Nez, the last original Navajo Code Talker, dies at 93.

012321 ~ 060414

RIP

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[radu]

Howdy, LUV!

Meeting him was a wonderful moment. I was shocked when I went to get the pic to post and saw the date. It was a little over 12 years ago and it seems like last week in many ways.

Dang! Thundering two nights in a row? Lucky you! Hope you get some more rain out of this round.

No rain here today but clouds kept the temps down a bit. Still not comfortable since the air’s so wet. Might get rain later tonight and they’re calling for storms tomorrow. I’m ready for a little thunder here. :-)

[radu]

It sounds like she’s a real winner in the game of life. Good for her!

Have you met her fiancé before or will this be the first time?

[ConorMacNessa]

We met him a year or so ago. They are both profs at UW Madison. She's in the Fine Arts Department - he is a chemist.

"I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces guarding our country and our way of life.
I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

[SandRat]

Ithink that’s correct,mata hai

[Ciexyz]

Very inspiring story of the code talkers. May they RIP.

[radu]

Ah, ok. I didn’t know if the engagement was recent or not. You’ve probably brought it up before but I have major problems with “CRS”. LOL!

[ConorMacNessa]

I don't think I have mentioned it here before. Of course, I could be wrong - at my age memory is a sometimes thing.

"I am an American fighting man. I serve in the forces guarding our country and our way of life.
I am prepared to give my life in their defense."

[radu]

LOL! How well I understand that! Too well. :-)

[Kathy in Alaska]

~ National Navajo Code Talkers Day, August 14 ~

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Honoring those who have served before.

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[PROCON]

Good evening Kathy and thanks for remembering these great U.S. Marine Corps Navajo Heroes, they contributed immensely to our War effort and eventual victory!

[PROCON]

Hi radu!

How blessed you were to meet this great American! I'm envious!

I finally mowed today, 20 degrees cooler here finally, WOO-HOO!

Son's coming over tomorrow after work and we'll install the last part in his car to get it back to full health hopefully.

We had more rain early morning, which was welcome, but it dried out enough to mow.

Good day?

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, lightman...a hat tip to all of them.

A good weekend without rain?

[luvie]

Well, right now we are the hole in the donut. Could rain later, but not holding my breath!

Sorry it’s still so humid there. it can really get to a person. Makes me crabby. LOL! Maybe you’ll get some thunder and the lightning that goes with it so you can get some good scaps from it!

[radu]

Howdy there, PRO!

It was such an honor to meet him that day. It would have been nice to have sat down and listened to him for hours but since others wanted a chance to meet him, our conversation was brief. Still a major moment in my life.

It FINALLY cooled off up there???? ‘Bout time!!!! The whole area must have been abuzz with activity after everyone’s been cooped up so long. Hope it sticks around a while this time.

A quiet day here. Went to visit Clara at the nursing home but she was out cold. No point in waking her because she’s so utterly confused for a long time after waking up.

So I came home and did a little housework. woo. LOL

[radu]

A hole in the donut. Boy, does that sound familiar! LOL! It happens here a lot.
At the moment, the rain isn’t even getting this far. It’s doing the usual ‘reach I-65 and fizzle out’ routine. Tomorrow is a much better chance for something to reach us. I’m hoping for a good light show out of the deal. Been a while since I got any good lightning shots.

Humidity is just a part of life here and we learn to live with it. What’s weird is the rare times we have low humidity, I’m uncomfortable. It feels like all the moisture is being sucked out of my body.

Guess it’s all what one is used to.

[ConorMacNessa]

GOD BLESS AND PROTECT
OUR TROOPS AND
OUR BELOVED NATION!



VICTORY IN JAPAN
14 AUGUST 1945



"Long Ago And Far Away"
Jo Stafford
(Click)

Seventy-two years ago today our Fathers and Mothers thrust Tojo and his minions into the dustbin of History.

God Bless them, God Bless them all, God Bless them good!

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[MoochPooch]

Evening, Kathy! Amazing group of Native Americans. And they were loyal Americans!

[MS.BEHAVIN]

Tigermauz@ 12 weeks!

[radu]

SQEEEEEEAL!!!!!!!! He’s such a DOLL!!!!!
He’s gonna be one handsome fella when he’s grown.

How are things going with you these days? Well, I hope.

[luvie]

Ah, for a perfect world where there is enough humidity to keep our lips from peeling and peeling and not enough to make us feel like we’re breathing under water! LOL!

Might not be here too long tonight. Have to be up at 8am and that’s just wrong! But I have an appointment that couldn’t be made in the afternoon. Darn it!

...and I didn’t get much of a nap today for some reason.