America's secret weapon: Navajo Code Talkers

[Bootie]

Despite punishment for speaking their own language in government boarding schools and not having voting rights in their own states, approximately 400 Americans became their nation’s secret weapon during World War II – the Navajo Code Talkers.

Today, most people in the United States have heard about code talkers in passing conversations, but few have looked into the history of the code talkers.

“It’s important to know this piece of history because it had such a profound impact on World War II and it’s something we can all be proud of,†said Chief Warrant Officer 4 John Hawthorne III, who has researched the Navajo Code Talkers’ training at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif. “[American Indians] are just one of those pieces that make up the American mosaic. It’s not just their history – it’s my history – it’s American history.â€

The Navajo Code Talkers were part of a classified program that began with Philip Johnston. The son of a Presbyterian missionary to the Navajos, he was one of the few outsiders at the time who spoke the unwritten Navajo language. Johnston, a veteran, was familiar with the military’s small-scale use of American Indian languages during World War I.

http://www.dvidshub.net/news/79570/americas-secret-weapon-navajo-code-talkers#.TrsLp7K0PPK

 

[Louis]

 

[Facman]

~Salute~

 

[2054172]

That was a great thing, but I doubt if needed something like that again the countries would remember the American Natives and their languages when trying to break USA coded messages.

 

[Facman]

I doubt if needed something like that again the countries would remember the American Natives and their languages when trying to break USA coded messages.

They would not be necessary, technology has brought us encrypted radios where code is no longer needed.

 

[Vartuoosi]

They would not be necessary, technology has brought us encrypted radios where code is no longer needed.

Quite right. And during WWII encryption was still relatively primitive and it could be broken with just brute force methods within a somewhat reasonable time span which is not possible today.