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

 

 

 

[MS.BEHAVIN]

You sound very happy!
I’m so glad!
Man, that place must be HUGE!

[luvie]

LOL! I thought you already DID send the rain!

It was VERY nice!

[MS.BEHAVIN]

Yeah, I was careful...
But VERY busy all day.
How was your day?

[MEG33]

I do all that then do a rain dance..We SO need the rain..

[trussell]

Prayers for comfort and protection for your knee!

I may be facing surgery for my shoulder. Seems a recent auto accident may have torn some muscles and ligaments in my left shoulder.

[NYTexan]

That is a tedious and thoughtfull process as I have downsized quite a bit. A lot is gone and left behind and look to buy a house in a year from now.

But get’n settled is still on the forefront before I look ta have any kind of fun.

[luvie]

Good evening, BB!

((((LBH))))

So glad that you are enjoying your new job...and your new
home!

That GPS is finally coming in handy! LOL! I don’t rememeber
ever using it on our trip!

Now you have someone to talk to! ROFL!

[BIGLOOK]

Aloha Night Owl!

Times have changed since the Code Talkers. Time hasn't been kind.

[TASMANIANRED]

If you are just wanting to keep it civil. Change the topic when they get nosey.

[MS.BEHAVIN]

Prayers for you too, Lady T!
We are falling from together!
LOL

[NYTexan]

Now that I know my way around some, I don’t always listen ta her...LOL

I got it a couple months back and it has been a most perfect navigater!

BTW, you are fired!

(LMAO)

BBH
BB

[MS.BEHAVIN]

I wish I could send you some of mine!

[trussell]

I don’t mind talking about it if I can help someone decide to get their CCW. The more permit holders in the state the better! It’s just stupid when they ask questions and then refuse to listen to the answer...saying I’ll go to prison if I defend my life or that of my loved ones.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Just about ready to try the streets. Day went well.

[mylife]

Now wait... A Mc Dougals in a hospital? aint that politically incorrect?

Gosh dang convalescents enjoying hamburgs....

[trussell]

Thank you muchess!!! Prayers are appreciated. Hoping my shoulder quits hurting soon...my right hand has an issue of going numb or tingling lots too...as well as my hips and legs losing power when I climb the stairs to my apartment.

Sure did a number on myself when that lady hit me!

[mylife]

Whaa...? What happened?

[MEG33]

It just started raining again!...not a big rain but every drop is welcome..Sorry ro read your knee is acting up again..Take care.

[MS.BEHAVIN]

You poor thing!
*HUG*
Special prayers lifted for you!
Please hug the kids for me?

[GitmoSailor]

This code talker is just two blocks from my home here in Phoenix..............I am reminded every time I go to the bank.Freepers are welcomed to use these photos.