CRYPTOLOGIC HISTORY - NAVAJO CODETALKERS

Marines at Navajo Communications School Training Center, Camp Pendleton, 1943

With the movie Windtalkers available on DVD, the Government still gets lots of questions about the legends the film perpetuates about the Navajo Codetalkers.

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Yes, the codetalkers saved thousands of American lives by providing rapid and secure voice communications in combat in the Pacific.

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No, the Navajos did not have bodyguards with instructions to shoot them if there were any danger the Codetalker might be captured by the enemy. This is absolutely false.

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However, it is true that each Navajo Codetalker did have a bodyguard -– to protect him from his own side!

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Most Anglos in the military had never seen a real Native American or a real Japanese, and there was real danger that in the confusion of combat, the Navajos could have been mistaken for enemy soldiers.

Dave Israel

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Met Codetalkers at their book signing in Phoenix - elaineB