FReeper Canteen ~ August 14th...National Navajo Code Talkers Day! ~ 15 August 2022

Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World !! | The Canteen Crew

[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.

Canteen Mission Statement

Showing support and boosting the morale of
our military and our allies military
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

Honoring A Hero ~ Chester Nez

The last of the living WWII heroes share their stories

Please remember that The Canteen is here to support
and entertain our troops and veterans and their families,
and is family friendly.

[mountainlion]

I had an uncle in WWII that was in the 10th Mountain division that told me about the Code Talkers about 60 years ago. It is good to see they are still Legend.

[luvie]

Unsung heros who need to be remembered and thanked!

[luvie]

I had no idea. Salute to these heroes as well!

[MayflowerMadam]

Heroes for sure.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Janey...((HUGS))...enjoying your nice weather?

Got your next flight lined up?

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Nipster...what would the world be if they had not been there for their country?

We DO owe them MUCH!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, radu...are you recovered from the weekend? How’s the back?

You are sure right...it WAS a shame they had to wait for so long to be honored.

[luvie]

Hey there, radu!

Good to see ya. Hope you had a good weekend at the museum. It was under 100 all weekend. This morning when I went out to feed the kitties, I could tell they felt less stressed. So did I. :)

[Kathy in Alaska]

You are retired...getting the BEST job is worth the wait. It will come.

Glad you got some rain.

[radu]

Howdy, luvie.

They were unsung heroes for too long but their praises are sung now. True heroes, they were and we owe them a lot.

I had the pleasure of meeting Thomas Begay. It’s hard to believe it was 17 years ago because I remember it like it was yesterday. Such a nice, humble man. My pea brain lets me down once in a while but it hangs on to that memory like Gorilla Glue. LOL

How are things down your way? Still enjoying decent temps?

[Nifster]

Indeed

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Mayor, and thank you for today’s sustenance for body and soul.

Are you and Mrs Mayor all rested and ready to take on the new week?

[radu]

Hey there Kathy.

The weekend was a good one. Dead Friday but yesterday was better. The weather was so nice, people apparently took the opportunity to enjoy outdoor activities it’s been too hot to enjoy most of the summer. Can’t blame them for that.

We were invited to a get-together at some friends’ house last evening and got home VERY late. The ol’ bum back was doing well until going there. Their patio furniture is the most uncomfortable I’ve ever sat on and both Hubby and I have screaming backs today. Next time, we’ll take our own chairs to sit on. LOL

Did you get rain this afternoon/evening? The radar showed you were getting it a little while ago but sometimes the radar lies.

[Kathy in Alaska]

No relaxing this weekend. Lots of pay raises, so lots of cheat sheets to update....not hard, just tedious. All the info is not in one place, so it is back and forth, back and forth.

BUT...I spent the morning sorting and filing and shredding my own pile of papers. I made a huge dent and am quite happy about my progress.

[radu]

Yes, it was a fun weekend though a little slow. There were just two of us working Friday and we each had ONE tour. After doing a little touch-up cleaning, I spent most of the time sitting outside enjoying the gorgeous weather. Yesterday was busier.

Glad to hear your temps are staying down a bit. Maybe they’ll stay under 100 now. Y’all need the break!

We have 80s across the board for the next week and are quite happy with that!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thanks, ansel12, for the reminder...

The Choctaw code talkers were a group of Choctaw Indians from Oklahoma who pioneered the use of Native American languages as military code during World War I.

The government of the Choctaw Nation maintains that the men were the first American native code talkers ever to serve in the US military. They were conferred the Texas Medal of Valor in 2007.

The Choctaw Code Talkers!

[luvie]

Ahhh...the 80s sound wonderful. We might have 80s late this coming week. Might. You never know around here.

[luvie]

Absolutely!

[radu]

Well, at least you had some time to get something of your own dealt with today. Bet it felt good.

Both Hubby and I had things we’d planned to do today but neither of us did any of them. I spent time digging into some family history and found a digitized copy of a “commonplace book” written by my 9-times-great-grandfather in my paternal grandmother’s line. Been reading it and have decided it’s worth sending the link to my two cousins who are working on the family tree with me. I think they’ll like it. Last week I found a “special orders” letter to our great-great-grandfather - same family line - who served during the Civil War. The orders were for him to take over command of a post in KS. The cousins loved that one, especially the younger one who’s a Civil War history buff.

Something to do when kinda stuck sitting around. :-)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Thanks for adding their history. They and the others tribes made a huge difference, and deserve much credit.