Navajo Code Talkers break silence for Veterans Day
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NEW YORK – The famed Navajo Code Talkers, the elite Marine unit whose unbreakable code stymied the Japanese in World War II, fear their legacy will die with them.
Only about 50 of the 400 Code Talkers are believed to be still alive, most living in the Navajo Nation reservation that spans Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Many are frail or ill, with little time left to tell the world about their wartime contribution.
But on Tuesday, 13 of the Code Talkers, some using canes, a few in wheelchairs, arrived in New York City to participate for the first time in the nation's largest Veterans Day parade, set for Wednesday.
The young Navajo Marines, using secret Navajo language-encrypted military terms, helped the U.S. prevail at Iwo Jima and other World War II Pacific battles, serving in every Marine assault in the South Pacific between 1942 and 1945. Military commanders said the code, transmitted verbally by radio, helped save countless American lives and bring a speedier end to the war in the Pacific theater.
They were sworn to secrecy about their code, so complex that even other Navajo Marines couldn't decipher it. Used to transmit secret tactical messages via radio or telephone, the code remained unbroken and classified for decades because of its potential postwar use.
"We were never told that our code was never decoded" or given identities of the original 29 Navajos who created it, said Keith Little, 85, who joined the Marines at 17 and remembers crouching in a bomb crater amid heavy fire on Iwo Jima.
"It was all covered by secrecy. We were constantly told not to talk about it," Little said. The Code Talkers felt compelled to honor their secrecy orders, even after the code was declassified in 1968.
The oldest of the 13 living Code Talkers is 92, and the group includes one of the original 29. Many Code Talkers who served in the war were young farmers and sheepherders who had never been away from home.
"The code did a lot of damage to the enemy," said Samuel Tom Holiday, 85, of Kayenta, Ariz., who also is joining the parade. He was a 20-year-old Code Talker when he and two other Marines went behind enemy lines on Iwo Jima to locate a Japanese artillery unit advancing on American forces
more at link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091110/ap_on_re_us/us_navajo_code_talkers
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kennymotown
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I do appreciate his and all the Vets service. This guys were pretty special, they really confused the Japs.
- 2 years ago
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kennymotown
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cabinettags
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WWII had been over 3 years when I first drew breath. I was a kid during Korea. I was a Marine in Viet Nam.
How many times have I heard young folks today belittle the accomplishments of that time? Overlook the fact that Japan had envoys in Washington at the same time their fleet was bombing Oahu. Say it's not the same, the world has changed.
Has it?
Our kids, wearing the uniform of our country, are still doing their duty. There are still countries in this world that would cheer the demise of America, and take active steps to see that happen. It's still the same world it's always been - just has a new veneer. Were it not for the fact that the entire country and everybody in it rallied to the colors, today we'd all be speaking German. Not important? Not relevant? Checked your sock drawer lately?
Code talkers. Their contribution to this effort can't be overstated. They were kids. They went in harms way. Some were killed. They persisted. But note this friends: they were Navajo Indians. Among the very people that white folks wrested this country from. Their land had been taken. They were looked down on. They had every reason in the world to harbor resentment. Yet they came. They volunteered to help. And boy did they do that. There were a lot of Americans still walking around in 1946 that would have been in a hole in the ground were it not for the code talkers.
And the worst of it is that their contribution was secret for decades after. They did the job, but almost nobody knew of it. Secret.
So here we sit in 2009. Two wars cooking. Almost nobody wants to hear about our warriors. They want to feel sorry for them. Look down on them. Say they're dupes. Describe them in derogatory terms, as knuckle draggers. No brains. right.
Well here's a hot flash for you. Were it not for them; you wouldn't be you. They stand between our civilization, culture, and those that would see it end. They don't need us - we need them. About time somebody put the cart behind the horse rather than in front of it.
The code talkers are all old guys now. They won't be with us much longer. The VERY LEAST we can do is to thank them for what they did for us. They're being really outrageous in this, of course. They'd actually like their legacy to live after they've gone. They'd like a museum that chronicles their contribution. I not only think that contribution to our nation should live, I wonder if we can live up to it. Can you?
Do us all a favor and try to steer clear of politics in this. Politics doesn't have a damn thing to do with it. What it does have to do with it right - and assuming responsibility - and doing your part; for your fellow citizens and your country. If you don't have the cojones for that, then just pass this article by. For the rest of us, let's say thanks; shall we?
- 2 years ago
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cabinettags
