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The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Navajo CodeTalkers - Dec 21st, 2002
http://bingaman.senate.gov/code_talkers/ ^

Posted on 12/21/2002 12:12:15 AM PST by SAMWolf

U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues

Where Duty, Honor and Country
are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.

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The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans.

We hope to provide an ongoing source of information about issues and problems that are specific to Veterans and resources that are available to Veterans and their families.

In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support.

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Click on the pix

Navajo Code Talkers
The Code That Was Never Broken

The Call


It is easy to forget what the world was like in the early 1940s. With the United States being slowly pulled into the escalating conflict in Europe, we suddenly found ourselves faced with a two-front war as the Japanese Empire attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, followed by the Axis Powers declaration of war just four days later.

One of the intelligence weapons the Japanese possessed was an elite group of welltrained English speaking soldiers, used to intercept U.S. communications, then sabotage the message or issue false commands to ambush American troops. Military code became more and more complex – at Guadalcanal, military leaders complained that it took two and a half hours to send and decode a single message.



The use of Native American languages in coded military communications was not new to World War II; Choctaw Indians, for example were used as Code Talkers in World War I. The idea of using Navajo as code in World War II came from a veteran of World War I, Philip Johnston. Johnston, knowledgeable in the use of Native American languages during the first world war, knew of the military's search for a code that would withstand all attempts to decipher it. He was also the son of a missionary, raised on the Navajo reservation, spoke fluent Navajo, and believed Navajo answered the military requirement for an undecipherable code as it was an unwritten language of extreme complexity. After an impressive demonstration, the Marine Corps called upon the Navajo Nation to support the military effort by recruiting and enlisting Navajo men to serve as Marine Corps Radio Operators.

The "first twenty-nine," as they are sometimes referred to, are the first twenty-nine enlistees credited with the development of the original code, consisting of approximately 200 terms. It was designed to be short and concise and used or combined standard native words to create new terms for military hardware. But what proved to be most inventive, and confusing to the enemy, was the incorporation of an innovative alphabet to cover unforseen contingencies. Using this method, the Navajo Code Talker could use distinctly different words for the exact same message, making the code extremely complex, but at the same time improving the speed of vital military communications. Due to its very flexibility, development of the code continued under subsequent Navajo Code Talkers, growing to over 600 terms. By the end of the war the Navajo code, and the very technique by which it was developed, became the most innovative, successful, and closely guarded military secret code of its time.




First twenty-nine Navajo U.S. Marine Corps code-talker recruits being sworn in at Fort Wingate, NM.


Between the creation and the code's evolution is a distinction worthy of note. While all Navajo Code Talkers deserve recognition for their contribution to the code's use and continuing development, the original twenty-nine members gave birth to the idea, setting the standard for this living code.

The Code


To decipher a message coded by the Navajo Code Talkers, the recipient first translated the Navajo words into English, and then used the first letter of each English word to decipher the meaning. Because different Navajo words might be translated into different English words for the same letter, the code was especially difficult to decipher. For example, for the letter "A," the Code Talker could use "wol-la-chee" (ant), "be-la-sana," (apple), or "tse-nill" (ax). Some military terms that had no equivalent in Navajo were assigned their own code word. The word America, for example, was "Ne-he-mah" (Our mother). Submarine became "besh-lo" (iron fish).



Military commanders credited the Code with having saved the lives of countless American soldiers and with the successful engagements of the U.S. in the battles of Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. At Iwo Jima, Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division signal officer, had six Navajo Code Talkers working around the clock during the first forty-eight hours of the battle. Those six sent and received more than 800 messages, all without error. Major Connor declared, "Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima."



TOPICS: VetsCoR
KEYWORDS: freeperfoxhole; marines; navajocodetalkers; veterans; wwii
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To: MagnoliaMS
Thank you, MagnoliaMS. We're glad you like the foxhole and the threads we post.
181 posted on 12/21/2002 4:25:27 PM PST by SAMWolf
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To: SAMWolf
Thanks for all your hard work!
182 posted on 12/21/2002 5:06:21 PM PST by 4.1O dana super trac pak
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To: 4.1O dana super trac pak
You're welcome. I enjoy doing the threads. I'm glad there are others who find them interesting and informative.
183 posted on 12/21/2002 5:10:06 PM PST by SAMWolf
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To: Valin
As ever, some real nuggets of excellent trivia in there, Valin. My personal fave for today was:

1988 Vladimir Titov, Anatoly Levchenko & Musa Manarov return to earth (a year) with Chretien.

Why didn't they LEAVE him there? < VBG >

184 posted on 12/21/2002 5:34:46 PM PST by Don W
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To: SAMWolf
Oh yeah, and don't forget Wake Island! I have been looking in my books for a moving last letter home from a Wake Island pilot sent before he was lost while on patrol. It was to his parents, I think it went "Pray not that I will return home, but that I will always do my duty." I'll keep looking, do you remember reading something like that?
185 posted on 12/21/2002 5:48:35 PM PST by 4.1O dana super trac pak
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To: Darksheare
Oh my...look at all the posts I missed! I fell asleep!
186 posted on 12/21/2002 5:51:20 PM PST by MistyCA
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To: The Real Deal
What is shi?
187 posted on 12/21/2002 5:52:27 PM PST by MistyCA
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To: 4.1O dana super trac pak; SAMWolf
I think it would be neat to do threads about Guam and Wake Island! Those planes that took off from Guam were taking off from the head of a pin! :)
188 posted on 12/21/2002 5:57:01 PM PST by MistyCA
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To: MistyCA
Well, you did say you were going to take a small snooze.
I, however, feel the wierdness oozing in.
It's getting to be that time again.
But.. .I'm not going to bunk down just yet.
I have to wait up for someone to either call for a ride, or get home.
189 posted on 12/21/2002 5:58:58 PM PST by Darksheare
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To: MistyCA
Ummm... What Hanoi Jane is full of.
190 posted on 12/21/2002 5:59:30 PM PST by Darksheare
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To: Darksheare
I am so sleepy! Maybe I am a bear and trying to hybernate! LOL! :)
191 posted on 12/21/2002 6:03:08 PM PST by MistyCA
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To: Darksheare
Oh....even that is too kind! :)
192 posted on 12/21/2002 6:04:46 PM PST by MistyCA
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To: Darksheare
My coffee pot broke. Egads!
193 posted on 12/21/2002 6:06:00 PM PST by MistyCA
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To: MistyCA
Naaah. If you were a bear, you'd have fuzz all over and claws.
And your posts would be "Grrrr. grrrr. *paw swipe* *paw swipe* *catch fish* *maul environut*"
Hey.. that doesn't sound half bad....
194 posted on 12/21/2002 6:06:09 PM PST by Darksheare
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To: Darksheare
LOL......I have to check my messages...brb
195 posted on 12/21/2002 6:08:29 PM PST by MistyCA
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To: MistyCA
Well, close enough.

Your liquid caffiene maker broke..
Got any tea?
Steep Darjeeling for about ten minutes. Doesn't approach coffee, but it's fairly decent. (I'd recommend Brown& Bigelow's "Constant Comment" Makes a decent cup of tea after a ten minute steep. Yes, I am now a tea totaler. Afer watching people hit the floor after drinking concoctions I came up with...)};-)
196 posted on 12/21/2002 6:08:56 PM PST by Darksheare
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To: MistyCA
Reading about the savage Pacific Campaign really makes my blood boil, probably always will.
197 posted on 12/21/2002 6:10:07 PM PST by 4.1O dana super trac pak
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To: SAMWolf; AntiJen; MistyCA; DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet; 68-69TonkinGulfYatchClub; E.G.C.
The Navajo Code Talkers are heroes.

The arrogance of the Japanese in their self-styled "warrior" conduct was iced by the real power of these men.

As for Hillary Clinton, she is a traitor, profiting in the transfer of U.S. missile guidance superiority to the ChiComs via the 200-page fax from Loral-Hughes in 1995, deemed to have "damaged national security" in the 1997 Defense Department report.

Jane Fonda's implants will explode like airbags at the Rapture, for God is not mocked.

Drew Carey putting a smile on our troops' faces--long may he wave. Having lived in Cleveland for a time, finding humor from that venue is an epic achievement.

Additional squadrons of angels to fly cover for all our men and women in uniform.

God Speed Swift Victory to the Finest Fighting Force On Earth.

198 posted on 12/21/2002 6:11:56 PM PST by PhilDragoo
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To: 4.1O dana super trac pak
I don't know enough about it. It would make a great thread. Or two.
199 posted on 12/21/2002 6:18:28 PM PST by MistyCA
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To: PhilDragoo
LMAO....visually the expression on Fonda's face when her implants go! :)
200 posted on 12/21/2002 6:20:11 PM PST by MistyCA
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