Code Talker

Ned’s 297th platoon, all Navajo, graduates from boot camp with the highest honors. He doesn’t know what will happen next, but he is proud to be a real marine (or “leatherneck”) and sure that he’s ready to face anything. Looking back, he still believes that the Navajo marines were among the toughest out there, perhaps because they remembered their forefathers’ courage in protecting their land.

However, Ned was wrong that he was ready for anything. The day after graduation, the Navajo platoon is told that they’re shipping out. It seems like a cruel joke at first—the other platoons are enjoying a furlough. The Navajos are bused to Camp Elliott, north of San Diego, and settled into barracks. The next morning, they are marched into a building with bars on the windows. They have no idea what is happening.

The platoon is marched into a classroom, and the door is locked behind them. Then they are shocked to hear a voice addressing them in Navajo. In front of the classroom are two Navajo marines, Johnny Manuelito and another man named John Benally. They introduce themselves as instructors. Ned is “stunned” by the idea of having a Navajo teacher.

Johnny Manuelito passes out pencils and paper and begins saying words in Navajo. The recruits have to write down those same words in English. Johnny runs through 16 words very quickly, then collects the papers from the confused recruits. After glancing through the papers, he tells the group that they’ve done well, but that they must become perfect if they want to be code talkers. Ned has never heard this term before. The teachers explain that it will be the platoon’s job to learn a Navajo-based secret code and to be trained in communications. Then, on the battlefield, they will send messages that only fellow code talkers can understand.

Ned likes the sound of this job. He can easily see its importance, too. Marines must be able to communicate quickly over long distances. But so far, the Japanese have managed to break every code the Marines have used. During World War I, for example, Cherokee and Chickasaw languages had been used. After that, the Japanese were prepared, sending people to the United States to study American Indian languages. But Navajo is so difficult—it can only be mastered by those who’ve spoken it all their lives—that the Japanese are not known to have attempted to learn it.