“Were it not for the Navajos*, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima.” -Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division signal officer Typically, foreign languages are not considered secret codes since they are intended for communication. A code is meant to deliberately hide the meaning of something. Still, Native Americans fluent in both their Indigenous language and English were successfully able to send secret messages for the United States military, most notably during World War II. Navajo soldiers were selected for a few reasons. Dr. Simon Singh explains in our Cryptology (SECRET CODES) episode that the US military “needed a tribe big enough to supply the men that would be needed, had a high level of literacy, and hadn’t been studied by German anthropologists (because that would’ve compromised the code).” Dr. Singh continues, “Navajo soldiers traveled with radio units and all the messages would be given in Navajo, spoken to a Navajo soldier at the other end, who would then translate them back to English.” The code talkers developed a system using their Indigenous language as a base for ciphers, substituting Navajo words for the 26 letters of the alphabet. And North America being home to a broad variety of Native languages, it was difficult to learn or guess which one was being used. In fact, several other Nations served as code talkers, including the Cherokee, Choctaw, Comanche, and Meskwaki. It was a highly effective system essential for the Allied victory in World War II. Were the Navajo publicly celebrated and given parades after WWII? Of course not. All of this remained classified until the 1960s. It wasn’t until 1982 that President Reagan recognized their service and declared August 14 as Navajo Code Talkers Day. *The traditional name for Navajo is Diné. “Navajo” was coined by the Spanish. Pictured: Native American heroes during WWII (1-3), Veteran Navajo code talkers in 2005 (4), Veteran Navajo code talker Thomas Begay (5), Veteran Navajo code talker Peter MacDonald (6), Navajo Code Talkers Memorial in Window Rock, AZ (7)