Over 400 Navajo Code Talkers served during World War 2, a military unit that used their language to communicate and coordinate the movements of Marines in the Pacific Theater. Encryption was a complicated and time consuming task. A swifter and more secure system was required by the American forces. WW1 veteran Philip Johnston, the son of a missionary, had presented the idea of Navajo speakers to the Marines. There were very, very few speakers of the Navajo language outside the tribe, with exception of a limited number of scholars and missionaries (Johnston estimated only 28 people), so it was unlikely anyone else would recognise the language and be able to translate it. After a demonstration on February the 28th 1942, General Vogel wrote to the U.S. Marine Corps command and recommended the initial recruitment of 200 Navajo for the Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet. The initial recruits built the code, creating a vocabulary for military terms. For instance, the Navajo did not have a word for “observation plane,” so the code talkers chose “me-as-jah,” the Navajo word for “owl.” They created a system that represented the 26 letters of the English alphabet. For instance, the letter A was “wol-la-chee,” which means “ant” in Navajo. Eventually, they added an additional layer of encryption: the 26 letters had 44 corresponding terms to expand the words used for the letters; E, T, A, O, I, N, S, H, R, D, L, and U. Capt. Ralph J. Sturkey, reported at the battle for Iwo Jima, calling the Navajo code “the simplest, fastest, and most reliable means available to transmit secret orders by radio and telephone circuits exposed to enemy wire tapping.” The Japanese were never able to break their code. #navajocodetalkersday #ww2 #1940s #USMC #history #vintageworkwear #hbt #p41 #p44 #vintagephotograph (at Iwo Jima) https://www.instagram.com/p/CD600yojFJf/?igshid=hn28k0ny8p4j
