“Most Marines and Army personnel never had a clue what the ‘coders’ were and what major part they played in our war. If God alone may know, they saved thousands of American lives, yet their tale has been hidden by the very role they played: Talk silent, speak swift, stay alive.”

~ Naval officer Davey Baker

“During our beach assault and island operations, Navajo talkers were worth their weight in gold and were thoroughly professional . . . Their contributions to Marine operations in the South Pacific were probably unmeasurable.”

 
~ Sergeant Dolph Reeves

Navajo Code Talker uniform, wikimedia.org.

When the Code Talkers arrived home, they were sworn to secrecy; they couldn't tell anyone what they had done, including family members. The mission of the Navajo Code Talkers was top secret until 1968, when the program was declassified. The U.S. military wanted to keep the code top secret in case they needed to use it again. Many Navajo Code Talkers fought in Korea and Vietnam but not as Code Talkers.

After World War II the United States became one of the most prosperous and powerful nations, but the Navajo continued to struggle.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Home on Navajo Reservation, 2010, National Archives/Flickr.

The poverty rate on the Navajo Nation Reservation is three times higher than the United States national average and 1-in-6 households on the Navajo Nation lack complete plumbing versus 1-in-250 for the United States.

"... I stopped at the federal building in Gallup, New Mexico, to get an identification card, a card that was required for Native Americans at the time. Dressed in my spotless Marine uniform, I entered the building with confidence an approached the desk of a civilian paperpusher. From behind his desk the man stared at me, the Navajo Marine, and his eyes narrowed. 'You're not a full citizen of the United states, you know. ...You can't even vote.' "

~ Chester Nez

The Navajo, as well as all Native Americans, didn't have the right to vote in all states until 1962.

Image courtesy of Arizona Historical Society.org.

Image coutesy of National Archives.

In 1982, President Ronald Reagan established August 14th as National Code Talkers Day. In 2001, President George W. Bush awarded the Navajo Code Talkers the Medal of Honor.

Recently, NASA has been working with the Navajo Nation and Navajo NASA engineer Aaron Yazzie, to name features on Mars.

"We hope that having our language used in the Perseverance mission will inspire more of our young Navajo people to understand the importance and the significance of learning our language. Our words were used to help win World War II, and now we are helping to navigate and learn more about the planet Mars."

~ Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez

Perseverance Hazcam Mars, 2021, NASA/JPL-Caltech.

"We hope, and have every reason to believe, that the Navajos will play a major role in Marine Corps operations. When the war is over, their story may rank with great sagas of the battlefield."

~ Philip Johnston