Have you ever heard of the Navajo Code Talkers? It was not until I had visited the beautiful Navajo Nation in the southwestern part of our country that I found out about the code talkers. And as I was doing research for my book, The Teacher Learns Love, I found out even more.
If you have never heard of these people, let me enlighten you. During World War II, many of the Navajo men who lived on the reservation chose to go to war to help defend democracy. Democracy that was quickly being lost in many countries throughout the world. The Allies, of which the United States was a part, were doing very badly.
It was a group of 29 Navajo soldiers who stepped up and came to our defense. By using their own language, they helped to win the war. It was a complex and unwritten language, and the code they developed from it could not be broken by the Nazi forces. They never broke it.
Isn’t it ironic that a forbidden language was what turned the tide during the Second Great War? Because, you see, the Navajos had been forced to learn their native language in secret. They were not allowed to speak anything but English in the government schools where they were forced to attend. They were badly punished for saying even a single word in their native tongue.
But 29 young Navajo men stepped forward and did what no one else had been able to do. Of the original 29, there are only three left. The youngest is 94 years old.
I think we owe them a huge debt. If you would like to learn more about this time in our history, there are many books written on the subject. Several movies have been made about it too. There is a wealth of information about the Code Talkers and their lives. I thank them for their unselfish dedication and service.
They are almost all gone. Let us not forget them.
Loved this story. Thanks for sharing!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I think it is important that we remember them and others like them.