One of the five last living code talkers speaks with Arizona's Family

what is it about the Navajo language that made it perfect for Navajo code talking well initially back in January of 1942 when Philip Johnston made the suggestion to the United States Marine Corps San Diego Philip Johnston's was not a Navajo his parents came to Navajo Nation late 1800 as missionaries to never host so Philip John was a little boy at that time and late 1800s so he grew up on a reservation Philip Johnson he learned the language he learned the culture he also served in a non States Army World War one overseas in Europe United States Army communication units so he knows something about communication he knows Navajo he knows the language he also knows military communication by serving in World War one so he's the one that made the suggestion of using Navajo language now after that became a discussion between the Commodore United States Marine Corps Defense Department the Bureau of Indian Affairs Department of Interior other tribes were suggested why not use Cherokees or why not use Apaches wanna use the tzus different tribes were suggested why not use these well in final analysis it was decided Navajo Nation was very isolated from all these different tribes number one number two those if a lot of us still the largest Indian tribe in America was never her at that time so if there's any casualties there's going to be enough replacements so the code continues the last thing was that no more than maybe two or three person outside Navajo Nation knows the language no one else so it's very safe and secure to Navajo language itself thirdly it pronunciation of quite a few and never whole words these crews coming from the anthropologists that that are very difficult to pronounce some words sound the same as another word with a small inflection of the tongue or the the cuddle because many different things so Navajo was chosen many credit the Navajo code talkers for the success of the war how does that make you feel well we didn't know any of this stuff until after 1968 all we knew all these times still we'll just one of the war units that are people operating our children there are people operating tanks there marine using machine guns motor units we were communication unit we use in radio so we all doing our part we didn't know the effectiveness of all of these things but we know together we were doing things we win in the war but we didn't know how significant navajo code was until after 1968 why 1968 because in 1945 and 46 they told us don't tell anyone what you did because what you did is still top secret you wait until the navajo code is Declassified in the meantime if someone asks you what you did in war like at home your friends just tell them you a radio man that's all nothing more sure enough we got home got discharged our friends and relatives say what did you do in war you know response oh nothing I was just a radio man don't ask me any more questions waited we were radio men for 23 years after the war it was none until 1968 when we saw on television newspaper that navajo code was Declassified at their point people began to ask what's this must never hold code so we all got back together and say oh that's us we're never hold code talkers we need to organize like VFW you know they got nice VFW uniform with a nice blue cap that's organized so we did in 1969 over 400 of us serve as official they designated as never ho code talkers and over a dozen were killed in action most of those that were killed in action were assigned to then with the first wave every landing there always a sign at least it doesn't Navajo code talkers to land with the first wave the first ones to hit the beach why because the command ship commander wants to know immediately after you to Beach what the casualty rate is on the beach you don't want the enemy to know that so it's Navajo code talkers responsibility sent that kind of messages back to the command ship what the casualty rate is on the beach also the command ship wants to know as soon as you hit the beach they tell us since the cake goes down run lehel hit the deck and start looking where the enemy fire is coming from they give us code talkers met of their Island with grid lines we memorize those so after the first wave hits the beach you're on the hell hit the deck you began to see where it is enemy fires are coming from you look at your map locate the location by grid lines sent that location back to the command ship in Navajo code they then and never hope then the commander either general the Admiral assigns either marine air wing or a cruiser or battleship to zero in on their particular gun emplacement all in Navajo code you don't want the enemy to know because enemy's breaking code if you did it in English they learned that if they're being targeted so they move their location so by the time you get there - it knocked them out they're not there anymore so it's very important that those kind of situation is all done in neverhood message coming in I should point out ordering destruction of their particular gun emplacement they also the first wave code talkers were assigned to regarding our ammunition situation or we learn with it's what we have in our rifle and what we have in our belt maybe just four or five hand grenades they don't last long and about a third of fourth wave coming ammunition ships supposed to come in dump more ammunition on their Beach sometimes they kept blowing up before they hit the beach so he sit in there with little no ammunition you don't want the enemy to know that either so that kind of information sent back to the command ship in Navajo code they then ordered more ships with ammunition to come in all in Navajo so then we never know what the world was going on also troop movements on the peach formations all of those never hawk code so I don't know whether this regiment or just battalions going to move to Red Beach or yellow beach it's all nothing the enemy knew everything was top secret that's why we learned much much later how important navajo code was

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Id: G6wzQYLvj78

Length: 9min 55sec (595 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 11 2019