The work of 420 Navajo Indians encoding and decoding classified military information during World War II is finally being recognized with August 14th being designated “National Navajo Code Talkers Day.” The work was partially revealed starting in 1968, after being classified for decades. The story of the Navajo Code Talkers begins in 1940 when a small group of Chippewas and Oneidas joined the 32nd Infantry Division for radio communications. Shortly thereafter, the Sac and Fox tribes joined the ranks as combat radio operators. The complexity of the Navajo linguistics made it an ideal choice for code-breaking due to the lack of documentation available for learning to speak the language and the ability of words themselves to mean multiple things based on their sound. The legacy of the Navajo Code Talkers will continue as many documentaries and stories have been shared about their journey since its declassification. The Japanese, who had cracked the USAF’s secret code, admitted that they had never had any success against the Navajo Code.
