Navajo Code Talkers Essay Research Paper Who
Navajo Code Talkers Essay, Research Paper
Who would hold known that the linguistic communication of Native Americans, created 100s of old ages before the initiation of our state, would turn out to be one of America s greatest secret arms? The Japanese cracked every codification that the Army and Navy came up with, but non the Navajo codification. Navajo is a spoken linguistic communication handed down orally from coevals to coevals. The Code Talkers created a system of native words to stand for characters of the English alphabet so that they could spell out English words that had no Navajo equivalent. The codification speakers besides assigned their ain looks such as iron-fish for pigboat, to over four 100 of import military footings. Each codification speaker memorized these particular words for there were no written stuffs that could be captured by the enemy.
The usage of the codification talk originated in World War I. It was common for the work forces and adult females of the armed forces to happen themselves in heavy quandary as their battalion would be surrounded by German forces. The relay of a simple message would be impossible due to the fact that the Germans would hold already tapped the field lines and were able to stop messages and cognize every move that the Americans were traveling to do. The Choctaw Code Talkers proved to be an outstanding usage of communicating when it foremost appeared during the shutting yearss of World War I. With the usage of the codification speakers, messages were capable of being relayed to the battalion commanding officer without fright of reading by the Germans. However, the usage of this freshly found unafraid signifier of communicating would stay a secret with the sign language of the Armistice and the Choctaw work forces returning to their reserves.
Twenty five old ages subsequently, the Americans found themselves embroiled in another World War. The war would keep really few secrets. Communication, one time once more, became a immense job during the war. American intelligence functionaries had broken Nipponese and German communicating codifications, but, the Nipponeses were besides able of interrupting all the codifications that the Americans could come up with. Nipponese codification surfs had been educated in the United States and were savvy to even local slang that the American forces were seeking to utilize to mask their purposes. Possibly the Choctaw Code Talkers could turn out to help the Americans one time once more.
Seventeen Comanches were assigned to the Comanche Signal Corps of the United States Army and, like the Choctaws before them, passed messages among themselves that could non be understood by the Germans. Little did the Germans listening-in know that the words posah-tai-vo meant brainsick white adult male, which was used to place none other than Adolph Hitler.
The most ambitious attempt to use native linguistic communications as secret codifications was championed by Philip Johnston. Johnston was a World War I veteran who had come by covered waggon to settle on Navajo land in northern Arizona with his missional household. By age 9, he had gained such proficiency in Navajo linguistic communication that he acted as translator between two Navajo leaders and President Theodore Roosevelt when they met in 1901. Johnston had heard of the Choctaw Code Talkers, and he was convinced that the Navajo linguistic communication would besides be about impossible for an enemy to understand. After all, he was one of about 30 non-natives who understood the complex and elusive Navajo looks. Now, all he needed to make was convert the disbelieving armed forces that he had the reply to their security jobs.
Johnston did stop up converting Lieutenant Colonel James E. Jones, a Marine Corps Signal Officer, to allow him set on a presentation at Camp Elliott ( which now happens to be Tierrasanta ) in February of 1942. Navajo voluntaries translated typical military messages from English to Navajo, and sent the messages to another room where other Navajos translated them back to English within 20 seconds. Using coding machines to convey the same messages took 30 proceedingss. The Marines agreed to enlist Johnston and thirty other Navajos to seek their system in existent combat. The codification had to be foolproof as Allied forces in the Pacific would be venturing their lives on the security of the orders sent via the codification speakers. In May 1942, the first 20 nine Navajo recruits attended boot cantonment. Then at Camp Pendleton, this first group of Navajo codification speakers developed a dictionary and legion words for military footings. The dictionary and all codification words had to be memorized during preparation.
Once a Navajo codification speaker completed his preparation, he was sent to a Marine unit deployed in the Pacific theatre. The codification speakers primary occupation was to speak, conveying information on tactics and troop motions, orders and other critical battleground communications over telephones and wirelesss. The codification speakers besides acted as couriers and performed general Marine responsibilities.
Carl Gorman was one of the Navajos sent to Guadalcanal in the autumn of 1942. As a immature male child go toing school at the Rehoboth Mission in Chinle, Arizona, he had been locked in ironss in the school cellar for declining to talk English alternatively of Navajo. With Nipponese forces brushing over Guadalcanal and listening to every Marine wireless frequence, Gorman and his friends William Yazzie, Jack Nez and Oscar Ilthma called in heavy weapon fire and provided statu
s studies in what once more sounded like gibberish to the enemy.
The Japanese, being skilled codification surfs, remained baffled by the Navajo linguistic communication. The Nipponese head of intelligence, Lieutenant General Seizo Arisue said that while they were able to deciper the codifications used by the U.S. Army and the Army Air Corps, they were ne’er able to check the codification used by the Marines. Joe Kieyoomia, a Navajo soldier who was non trained as a Code Talker, was captured and survived the Bataan Death March, merely to be tortured into seeking to decrypt intercepted Marine communications. Left standing naked in the snow, pess frozen to the parade land, he couldn & # 8217 ; t confess to what he didn & # 8217 ; t understand. The secret codification made no sense, even to another Navajo.
It was said by high military officers that the Marines would ne’er hold taken Iwo Jima without the Navajo Code Talkers, and World War II might hold had a different result without their part. The 400 Navajos who were recruited and served as Code Talkers came home from the war and went through particular native ceremonials called the & # 8220 ; Enemy Way & # 8221 ; to exorcize them of the painful memories of manus to manus combat and shades of the dead.
The Navajo codification speakers took portion in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945, including Gualdalcanal, Tarawa, Peleliu, and Iwo Jima. They served in all six Marine divisions, Marine Raider battalions and Marine parachute units, conveying messages by telephone and wireless in their native linguistic communication a codification that the Japanese ne’er broke. Praised for their accomplishment, velocity and truth throughout the war, Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division Signal Officer, declared, Were it non for the Navajos, the Marines would ne’er hold taken Iwo Jima. Connor had six Navajo codification speakers working around the clock during the first two yearss of the conflict. Those six sent and received over eight 100s messages, all without mistake.
Below are some of the words in the Navajo Code Talkers Dictionary.
Navajo Code Talkers & # 8217 ; Dictionary
REVISED AS OF 15 JUNE 1945
( DECLASSIFIED UNDER DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE DIRECTIVE 5200.9 )
ALPHABET NAVAJO WORD LITERAL TRANSLATION
A WOL-LA-CHEE ANT
A BE-LA-SANA APPLE
A TSE-NILL AXE
B NA-HASH-CHID BADGER
B SHUSH BEAR
B TOISH-JEH BARREL
C MOASI CAT
C TLA-GIN COAL
C BA-GOSHI COW
D BE DEER
D CHINDI DEVIL
D LHA-CHA-EH DOG
E AH-JAH Ear
E DZEH ELK
E AH-NAH EYE
F CHUO FIR
F TSA-E-DONIN-EE FLY
F MA-E FOX
G AH-TAD GIRL
G KLIZZIE GOAT
G JEHA GUM
H TSE-GAH HAIR
H CHA HAT
H LIN HORSE
I TKIN Ice
I YEH-HES ITCH
I A-CHI INTESTINE
J TKELE-CHO-G JACKASS
J AH-YA-TSINNE JAW
J YIL-DOI JERK
K JAD-HO-LONI KETTLE
K BA-AH-NE-DI-TININ KEY
K KLIZZIE-YAZZIE KID
L DIBEH-YAZZIE LAMB
L AH-JAD LEG
L NASH-DOIE-TSO LION
M TSIN-TLITI MATCH
M BE-TAS-TNI MIRROR
M NA-AS-TSO-SI MOUSE
N TSAH NEEDLE
N A-CHIN NOSE
O A-KHA OIL
O TLO-CHIN ONION
O NE-AHS-JAH OWL
P CLA-GI-AIH PANT
P BI-SO-DIH PIG
THE MARINE HYMN
Jimmy King, a Navajo teacher, translated the Marine Hymn
into Navajo:
We have conquered our enemies Nin hokeh bi-kheh a-na-ih-la
All over the universe Ta-al-tso-go na-he-seel-kai
On land and on sea Nih-bi-kah-gi do tah kah-gi
Everywhere we fight Ta-al-tso-go en-da-de-pah
True and loyal to our responsibility Tsi-di-da-an-ne ne-tay-yah
We are know by that Ay be nihe hozeen
United States Marines Washindon be Akalh Bi-kosi-la
To be one is a great thing. Ji-lengo ba-hozhon
Our flag waves Ni-he da-na-ah-taj ihla
From morning to puting Sun. Yel khol-go e-e-ah
We have fought every topographic point Day-ne tal-al-tso go enta-she-jah
where we could take a gun Tal-tso-go entas-se-pah
From northern lands Ha-kaz dineh-ih be-hay-jah
To southern tropic scenes, Ado ta aokhek-ash-shen
We are known to be indefatigable Do ni-din-da-hi ol-yeh
The United States Marines Washindon be Akalh-bi Khos
& # 8230 ; THE LAST VERSE IS SUNG LIKE A PRAYER & # 8230 ;
May we live in peace afterlife Hozo-go nay-yeltay to
We have conquered all our enemies, A-na-oh bi-keh de-dlihn
No force in the universe we can non Ni-hi-keh di-dlini ta-etin
conquer,
We know of no fear Yeh-wol-ye hi-he a-din
If the Army and the Navy Sila-go-tsoi do chah-lakai
Ever expression on Heaven & # 8217 ; s scenes, Ya-ansh-go hyrax dez vitamin E vitamin E
United States Marines will be Washindon be Akalh-bi Kosi La
at that place Populating in peace. Hozo-g-kay-ha-tehn
