FReeper Canteen ~ National Navajo Code Talkers Day ~ 14 AUG 2012

Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World !! | laurenmarlowe

[Kathy in Alaska]

 

 

~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ National Navajo Code Talkers Day

 

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

 

 

 

[AZamericonnie]

Supporting our Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, and Coast Guardsmen
at more than 1,000 places across the U. S. and around the world.

~Tribute to Our Troops~

[luvie]

~*~HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BAMs~*~
(thanks for the reminder, Big Guy!)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, HJ...((HUGS))...the code talkers are a fascinating subject.

[AZamericonnie]

Happy Birthday Lady Jag, Sevenofnine, Racebannon & many happy returns of the day! *Hugs*

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Luv...the code talkers were, indeed, real heroes.

How was your day off? ((HUGS))

[luvie]

Hope ya have just a GREAT birthday! :)

[Badabing Badablonde]

Ping for later.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, AZ, and thanks for the red, white, and blue tribute.

Hope you had a good day and an easy commute. *HUGS*

[E.G.C.]

A very pleasant good morning and ((HUGS)) to everyone at the Canteen and to all our military at home and abroad. Thanks for your service to our country. How's it going for everyone today?

Thanks for this morning's thread, Lauren.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LADY JAG!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEVENOFNINE!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RACEBANNON!!!!!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

[Kathy in Alaska]

Welcome to the Canteen, Badabing Badablonde.

[Kathy in Alaska]

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good morning/afternoon/evening/night Troops, wherever you are.

Thank you for doing your part to help keep all of us free and safe.

Thanks, unique, for the pastries.

Coffee is always on........

How about a donut?

Cookies?

Veggies?

Sandwich?

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good morning, E...((HUGS))...enjoy your Tuesday.

[tomkow6]

 

 

 

 

 Good morning,

EVERYBODY!

GOOD

MORNING

TROOPS!

 

Cubs

45 WINS

69  LOSSES

 

 

Energizer Bunny arrested!!

 Charged with battery..  
 

 

[E.G.C.]

Tuesday Morning Coffee Bump.

[left that other site]

I LOVE the Story of the Navaho Code Talkers.

Just a brief observation:
Native Americans are the most Patriotic People I have ever met. Every Pow Wow that I have ever attended opens with the Trooping of the Colors, The Pledge of Allegiance, The National Anthem, and a Tribute to Our Nation’s Veterans. Tribal Colors are also displayed and honored, but are ALWAYS Secondary to Old Glory.

Sure...amongst the craft vendors are the new-agers and lefty mother earth airheads, but they pay to participate and sell their stuff. We Native People see right through their silliness and merely tolerate them, as we are a very tolerant people. LOL.

God Bless The Navaho Code Talkers!

LTOS
Christian, American, Native (in that order!)

[beachn4fun]

TO THE

Good morning, Everyone.

Good morning to our

military, our allies, and their families

Thank you, Lauren, for preparing the Canteen for today’s activities.

A little tidbit I found while researching Kayenta, AZ for one of my stories:

In that same area, the newly-remodeled Monument Valley Visitor Center,
located 23 miles north of Kayenta,
has one wall dedicated to the memory of the code talkers.
The exhibit consists of documents,
photographs and written commendations
that trace the origins of the servicemen
and detail their valor.

DC Metroland Weather

~ Today...Mostly cloudy with thunderstorms and rain showers.
High of 90F. Winds from the South at 5 to 15 mph.
Chance of rain 40%.

~ Tonight...Mostly cloudy with thunderstorms,
then a chance of a thunderstorm
and a chance of rain after midnight.
Low of 77F. Winds from the SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Chance of rain 60%.

Drive-by post. Lurker mode today.
Please stay. Grab a cup of joe or tasty tea.

The FR Canteen is

Come on in and sit for a while.
There's always plenty of coffee, tea,
pancakes,
conversation,
silliness,
and plain old BS

REMEMBER THEM ~ DEFENDERS OF FREEDOM

AHLMEYER, HEINZ JR
5/10/1967
KIA - Body not recovered
South Vietnam.

FR CANTEEN MISSION STATEMENT

Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allied military and the family members of the above Honoring those who have served before.

[bert]

Code Talker sculpture in the Navajo Nation Capital complex In Window Rock Arizona

[beachn4fun]

Good morning bert.

thanks for the nice picture.