The Navajo Code Talkers

Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Pelelieu, and Iwo Jima have one thing in common: they were captured by the Wind Talkers unit. The Wind Talkers took part in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945 - serving in all six Marine divisions. Many American soldiers staked their lives on the success of the Navajo code and view the Wind Talkers' contributions to the war effort as nothing short of monumental.

American Marines on Saipan were able to use one code that was never broken by the Japanese. Navajo Indian communicators spoke in a code derived from their exclusive language to help win the battle. The complexity of the code perplexed the Japanese. It proved impossible to break for many reasons. Once a Navajo Code Talker obtained a string of unrelated Navajo words, he used the first letter in every word to make a whole word in English. The original Navajo Code Talkers also created and learned approximately 450 words that represented military terms.