And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
distributed via LISN
Chuck, we are proud of Natika's contribution to both her teacher's knowledge, and to
todays Native news..good work young lady!
Ish
Navaho Code Talkers: Native American Student Essay
for Native American Month
Native American's Contribution
by Natika Tsinnie (Dineh)
Washington, D.C. Area School
(Special Note: When Natika told her teacher she wanted to do a paper on
the Navajo Code Talkers, her teacher responded that no such thing
existed! Below is Natika's informative paper bringing to life the
contribution made by Native Americans during World War II. Additional
Information is provided by the student author at the end of the essay.)
---------------------
Native American's Contribution
Native Americans made a large contribution to the United States in World
War II. The United States has given little recognition to Native
Americans who served and fought for their country. The Navaho Code
Talkers played an especially important role.
World War II began in 1939 and lasted until 1945. America was at war in
Europe and the Pacific, specifically with the Germans and the Japanese.
One reason that there were so many Native Americans that joined the
military was because many "Native Americans lied about their age, so
that they were allowed to enlist." In the beginning of the war, "25,000
Native Americans served in the military." When all the Indians lined up
to pledge their loyalty to the armed forces, an army official wrote, "if
the entire population enlisted in the same proportion as Indians, there
would be no need for selective service." "In 1942, there was 50,000
Navahos, and in 1945, 540 joined the Marines." The Navaho Code Talkers
served in the Marines from 1942-1945 against the enemy, the Japanese.
"The youngest Navaho Code Talker was fifteen years old" because he lied
and said he was eighteen. "The Marines used 420 Navaho Code" Talkers in
World War II and 120 fought. There were fourteen Choctaw Code Talkers.
Their job was to secretly relay coded messages about military plans.
There were also seventeen Comanche Code Talkers used in World War II.
Both the Comanche and the Choctaw nations fought against the Germans.
The Comanche Code Talkers used the word "posah-tai-vo", referring to
Hitler, literally saying "crazy white man."
The man who came up with the idea of using Navahos for code talkers was
Philip Johnson (Johnston). "Philip Johnson was raised on the Navaho
reservation and when he was nine, he went with his father and two
Navahos to Washington D.C. Acting as a translator for the adults, he
asked President Theodore Roosevelt for fair treatment of the Navaho and
Hopi nations by the American government."
During the United States' involvement in World War II, Johnson saw the
need for Navaho involvement in the war effort. Johnson knew the Navaho
language was complicated and confusing. In addition, only "two dozen
non-Navahos understood the language" at that time, the "Navaho language
was not a written language," and the Navaho language does not contain an
alphabet or symbols. Another reason the military should use the Navaho
nation in World War II was because they had more people who spoke their
native language, unlike the Comanche and Chippewa nations. Johnson then
had to prove to Major General Clayton B. Vogel to use the Navaho Code
Talkers in World War II by conducting a test. "Because the future
Navaho Code Talkers could send and decode a 3-line message from Navaho
to English in 20 seconds, Major General Vogel approved Johnson's idea.
That same 3-line message would have taken 30 minutes to decode by a
machine." After the successful test, Johnson became the leader of the
code talker program.
Johnson sent many Navahos to be trained at boot camp and then they were
trained to become Navaho Code Talkers. The first 29 Navaho Code Talkers
had to develop a dictionary with many words from the natural world.
Some chosen words used in the war were "floating land" (Philippines),
"our mother" (America), "eggs" (bombs), and "tortoise shooter" (antitank
gun).
In the end, the Navaho Code Talkers developed 411 terms to use during
World War II. Out of the first 29 Navahos, 27 were sent to Guadalcanal
and two were left to train the rest of the Navahos that were to become
Navaho Code Talkers. All the Navaho Code Talkers had to memorize every
code word used for communicating. The Japanese were never able to
decipher the code used by the Navaho Code Talkers.
>From 1941-1945, all American Indian men were forced to register for the
draft; however, many American Indians were not allowed to vote. The
National Guard unit sent many American Indians to the Philippines to
fight. World War II was the first time that "Native Americans were
surrounded by this "White Culture" after all the previous explorations
because they all lived on reservations." "In the first 48 hours, the
Navaho Code Talkers had sent and received 800 coded messages, all of
which were without error by either communicating over the radio or the
telephone." "The Marines captured a Navaho and believed him to be a
Japanese soldier dressed in a Marine uniform", but later was released.
The Major General Alexander A. Vandergrift asked the Marine Corps to
train 83 more Navahos because the code talkers had been extremely
successful in coding messages during the war.
After World War II, the code talkers were not nationally recognized
until 1969 for their work and effort in this war. Because of the
American Indians brave work, they earned the right to vote in 1948.
Furthermore, five American Indians were awarded the "nation's highest
military honor" for fighting in World War II. Because of the Navaho
Code Talkers dangerous and highly important work during the war,
President Ronald Reagan declared a National Navaho Code Talkers Day in
1982, almost 40 years after the end of the war.
The United States would have never won World War II without the Navaho
Code Talkers. American Indians gave up their lives and fought proudly.
The United States has yet to recognize and celebrate the Navaho
Codetalkers Day that President Reagan approved seventeen years ago.
>From all the Native Americans killed in World War II, people easily
overlook the American Indian's contribution to this war because they are
a minority in their own country.
Works Cited:
Driver, Harold. Indians of North America. Chicago: The University of
Chicago, 1973.
Flaherty, Thomas. The Way of the Warrior. Alexandria: Time-Life
Books,
1993.
Hirschfelder, Arlene, and Martha Kreipe de Montaņo. The Native American
Almanac A Portrait of Native America Today. New York: Prentice Hall
General
Reference, 1993.
Kawano, Kenji. Warriors Navaho Code Talkers. Flagstaff: Northland
Publishing Company, 1990.
Molnar, Alexander Jr. U.S. Marine Corps (U.S. Army (Ret). "Navaho Code
Talkers." Marine Corps 1990: 1-4. Online. 17 February 1999.
Nies, Judith. Native American History. New York: Ballantine Books,
1996.
Russell, Francis. The Secret War World War II. Alexandria: Time-Life
Books, 1981.
Extra information on Navaho Code Talkers:
Although there have been several books written about the Navaho Code
Talkers, there are not enough facts around to understand fully how they
felt after the war and what they became.
The books that I have read, according to my father, were not always
telling the whole story. When I was around seven years old, I had the
wonderful opportunity to meet the code talkers personally when they came
to Washington D.C. I even sat on one of the code talker's knee and had
some pictures taken with them. My father, a full blooded Navaho, spoke
and interviewed the code talkers a couple of times. My father told me
many facts I never read in any book and the Navaho Code Talker revealed
to my father some interesting facts. The code talker explained, that he
was proud of his services during the war, the Navaho Code Talkers were
never really recognized and when they returned to their reservation,
they were soon forgotten. As the years passed, the code talkers found
out that they were just another weapon to be used by the United States.
They learned that if the enemy was going to overtake them, a fellow
soldier was assigned as a partner to the code talker and his job was to
kill the Navaho code talker, so the code would be protected. A code
talker said, "If I knew this policy existed, I would not have joined."
These are little bits of information I learned from my father through
his talks with the Navaho Code Talkers. I am proud of the Navaho Code
Talkers, and they are truly our greatest warriors. I am proud to be a
Navaho and share the pride these Navaho Code Talkers have.
Natika Tsinnie
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine
of international copyright law.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
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