Have you thanked a Navajo Code Talker today?
This Q is more for citizens of the US, but everybody is welcomed to respond. On this day in 1942, 29 Navajo men joined the US Marine Corp to come up with an unbreakable code so the Japanese wouldn’t be able to know what the US had planned during WWII. Up to this point, the Japanese had been able to crack any code that we managed to create thereby knowing what we had planned next.
My Dad was a WWII vet & he firmly believed that those 29 men were heroes who helped to save this country. Having never met any of these men, we made it a practice to put out a silent, heartfelt thank you into the universe as our way to celebrate their lives & service to our country.
Did you know or realize that today was the anniversary of the beginning of the Navajo Code Talkers? Since they were Native Americans, I don’t feel that they ever received the recognition they deserved. Do you have any memories of them? Are you willing to take a moment to offer a silent (or not so silent) thank you to those men? Any other thoughts?
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
12 Answers
The U S Army used Choctaw code talkers in WW1 and WW2.
Not an American, but I still feel a sense of awe at what the men accomplished. My honor to them.
Gracias hukmanta, pichus yachan aswan askhata merecesqaykita, tarde agradecimientoymanta.
The above is Quechua for:
Thank you from one who knows you deserve so much more than my belated gratitude.
Quechua is the only Native American language I could find in the Google translator.
It’s also the ancestral lingua of my wife, who was born in Peru.
@Brian1946 Google Athabaskan or Athabascan languages.
@Brian1946 that made me wonder if the Vietnamese government had ever considered using one of our minority tribes’ language for the war. Most of those tribes’ languages are not registered on Google Translate, and some of them are so obscure not even people in Vietnam understand them properly. There used to be a case of a runaway trafficking victim who couldn’t find his way home because no one knew what language he spoke, and thus his nationality. He was kept in a police station for years when a Vietnamese happened to visit the station and the man recognized Vietnam currency. Turned out he came from a really little known tribe in Vietnam.
@Brian yes, but for a really short period of time. From what I was taught they were so desperate to win WWII that they converted rice fields into power plants and plantations for whatever materials they needed. This caused a massive famine and people rebelled violently.
I don’t see why the Navajo language would give an unbreakable code. According to the article, there were 411 terms. That does not seem like much, and I don’t see the advantage of using Navajo over using symbols for 411 English words.
I have known this since I was a kid. Yes they played a vital role as did every person who served.
@LostInParadise – it would be like playing that peg game Mastermind, except with 411 colors of pegs instead of 5.
At the time that they did this, they weren’t allowed to speak their native language in public. Yet they were willing to use it to save our asses!!!
Bless them, and yes, I wish they were recognized in some way. Sending thanks into the universe….
Answer this question 
This question is in the General Section. Responses must be helpful and on-topic.
Composing members:
0
