FReeper Canteen ~ National Navajo Code Talkers Day ~ 12 August 08

Serving The Best Troops And Veterans In The World | The Canteen Crew

[Kathy in Alaska]

 

 

The FReeper Canteen Presents National Navajo Code Talkers Day
Thank you to all of our Troops, Veterans, and their families for allowing us to entertain you!

 

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 Code Talkers Day."

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. 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.

 

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.

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.

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."

Long unrecognized because of the continued value of their language as a security classified code, the Navajo code talkers of World War II were honored for their contributions to defense on Sept. 17, 1992, at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.

Thirty-five code talkers, all veterans of the U.S. Marine Corps, attended the dedication of the Navajo code talker exhibit. The exhibit includes a display of photographs, equipment and the original code, along with an explanation of how the code worked.

Dedication ceremonies included speeches by the then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Donald Atwood, U.S. Senator John McCain of Arizona and Navajo President Peterson Zah. The Navajo veterans and their families traveled to the ceremony from their homes on the Navajo Reservation, which includes parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

The Navajo code talker exhibit is a regular stop on the Pentagon tour.

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.

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT~Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allies military and the family members of the above. Honoring those who have served before. 

Please remember: The Canteen is a place to honor and entertain our troops. The Canteen is family friendly. Let's have fun!

We pray for your continued strength, to be strong in the face of adversity.

We pray for your safety, that you will return to your families and friends soon.

We pray that your hope, courage, and dignity remain unbroken, so that you may show others the way.

God Bless You All ~ Today, Tomorrow and Always

 

 

 

[PROCON]

In!

[SandRat]

1?

[The Mayor]

Freep mail me to be on or off the Daily Bread ping list

August 12, 2008

“This Is It!”

ODB RADIO: Listen Now |  Download
READ: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17

The Lord Himself will descend from heaven . . . . Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up. —1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

Have you ever had a time when you thought the Lord was coming back right then? Many believers in Jesus are so eager to “meet the Lord in the air,” as Scripture puts it (1 Thessalonians 4:17), that they have felt “This is it!” at one time or another.

My wife, Sue, who once worked in a Christian nursing home, recalls being aboard an elevator at the facility when she had “second coming” thoughts. She had closed the door and started up to the second floor when the elevator came to a halt. Sue was stuck between floors. As she waited, there was a jolt and a quick flash of light—and then nothing again.

Sue recalled later that the power of the light and movement startled her and made her think that something unusual was happening. In that moment, her mind went toward the much-anticipated return of Jesus. It was a “This is it!” moment.

Whether we have experienced this feeling is not important. What is absolutely vital is that we know we are ready at any time for the Lord’s return. If we have received Jesus as our Savior, we will find ourselves anticipating with excitement His appearing—eager to “stir up love and good works” in one another as we “see the Day approaching” (Heb. 10:24-25).

A little while—then Christ will come;
The glorious hour draws nigh
When He will come to take His bride
To dwell with Him on high. —Gilmore

Christ’s second coming is as certain as His first.

Bible in One Year: Job 28–30; Proverbs 15:12-21

[sneakers]

Wow! I got here at the beginning of a thread! Cool!

[SandRat]

Supply Line

Girls wait in line for Soldiers of El Salvador's Battalion Cuscatlan to hand out school supplies at al Theusat village, Iraq, August 5, 2008. Photo by Sgt. Daniel West, Multi-National Division-Central.

[MeekMom]

Evening Ma!

[PROCON]

Evening SandRat, what's a mere 10 secs?!

When does DC's school start?

[MeekMom]

amen Mr. Mayor!

[SandRat]

Shoes In

A U.S. Soldier hands out shoes to the children of Sabah village during Operation Summit Pursuit with Iraqi security forces and the village's senior leaders, July 29, 2008. Photo by Staff Sgt. Margaret Nelson, Office of the Secretary of Defense Public Affairs.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Please note tonight's thread was provided by laurenmarlowe. She is working.

National Navajo Code Talkers Day

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT
Showing support and boosting the morale of
our military and our allies military
and the family members of the above.
Honoring those who have served before.

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To every service man or woman reading this thread.
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We are indebted to you for your sacrifices for our Freedom.

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[MeekMom]

Evening FRiends! :)
Cool pics Sandy!

[SandRat]

Life of Riley

Riley, one of two tigers donated to the Baghdad Zoo by the Conservators' Center in North Carolina, paces his new enclosure, Aug. 4, 2008. Riley, and his breeding partner Hope, arrived in Baghdad in good health and have settled in comfortably, according to the zoo's director. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Joy Pariante.

[PROCON]

Evening Ma and thanks for tonight’s thread and God Bless the brave and patriotic Navajo soldiers!!

[PROCON]

Hiya MM, I hope your day is as sunny as mine!

[SandRat]

Friendship Flag

Spc. Calvin Schreck and Spc. Joshua Cote fold a flag that was sent as a gift from Engine 34 and Ladder 21 firefighters in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City. The firefighters sent the flag to show the troops their support and appreciation. Photo by Pfc. Lyndsey Dransfield, 2nd Stryker Brigade 25th Infantry Division.

[AnAmericanMother]

Here's a nifty sidelight on this:

The Pendleton Blanket people make a commemorative Navajo Code Talker blanket.

I have a Banded Stripe Pendleton. They are 100% wool weft, cotton warp, very heavy, close-woven, and WARM.

[philly-d-kidder]

20th!

[SandRat]

HiYa PROCON.

She’s going through something we both remember, “Zero-Week,” before greeting the little minds full of mush on Monday.

[PROCON]

Make that Navajo MARINES!!/sheesh