Navajo Code Talkers

The heralded Navajo Code Talkers will be returning as VIP guests at the 33nd Annual Pueblo Grande Museum Indian Market at South Mountain Park on December 12 and 13, 2009.

The code talkers are credited with saving countless lives and hastening the end of World War II through their message code that was never deciphered by the Japanese.  On December 21, 2000, the “Honoring the Code Talkers Act” was signed into law.  The act authorized the President of the United States to award gold and silver medals to each Navajo man who qualified as a code talker. 

The year was 1942 when 29 Navajo Marine recruits first delivered the infamous Navajo code. The Code Talkers, whose ranks swelled to 421 during the course of the war, took part in every assault the US Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945. They served specifically as code talkers in all of the six Marine divisions from the battle of Guadalcanal through to Okinawa. These brave men developed and utilized the message code that stymied the Japanese and was never broken by the enemy.

The Code Talkers’ primary responsibility was to send highly secretive messages that pertained to the operations of a specific battle. Praise for their skill, speed and accuracy accrued throughout the war. Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division, stated “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 code was finally declassified in 1968 ending the secrecy sworn to by all of the Code Talkers. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan designated August 14th as National Code Talkers Day. More than 50 years after the end of World War II, the Navajo Code Talkers were finally recognized by the U.S. Congress. Another eight years passed before these gentlemen, true American heroes in word and deed, were officially recognized in two special ceremonies.

Gold medals were awarded to the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers by President George W. Bush during a standing-room only ceremony held in the Capitol Rotunda on July 26, 2001. The five living Code Talkers represented their brethren in spirit and honor. The silver medal ceremony was held in Window Rock, Arizona on November 24, 2001.

Of all of the honors Congress can bestow, the awarding of a Congressional Gold or Silver Medal is often considered the most distinguished. These medals are to express recognition by the United States of America and its citizens of the Navajo Code Talkers, to salute these brave and innovative Native Americans, and to acknowledge the great contribution they made to the nation at a time of war.

Today, the Navajo Code Talkers Association and its members are dedicated to preserving their story and role in America history. The Association is an independent, all-volunteer, nonprofit, 501 (C) 3 19 New Mexico corporation with a limited operating budget. The mission is multi-faceted and includes:

• Publicizing the role played the by the Code Talkers in America’s continuing quest for freedom.
• Providing burial assistance to the families of Code Talkers, if necessary.
• Maintaining a contingency fund to assist Code Talkers in cases of crisis, medical needs, and emergency.

You can help the Navajo Code Talkers Association achieve these goals in several ways including purchasing autographed books about the Code Talkers, making a direct donation to the Association, and hosting Code Talkers at a book signing.

Books include: The Navajo Code Talkers by Doris A Paul; Warriors-Navajo Code Talkers with photography by Kenji Kawano and a foreward by Carl Gorman, Code Talker; and a children’s’ book entitled The Unbreakable Code by Sara Hoagland Hunter.

For more information, please contact the Navajo Code Talkers Association at PO Box 1182, Window Rock, AZ 86515.