What was code talkers

Hear an excerpt of the Navajo Code Talkers song. The song is sung out of respect for the Code Talkers. Listen to an excerpt of the Comanche Code Talker Song.

The song honors the Code Talkers for their achievements. In World War I, Choctaw and other American Indians transmitted battle messages in their tribal languages by telephone. Although not used extensively, the World War I telephone operators played a key role in helping the United States Army win several battles in France that brought about the end of the war.

The army had special American Indian recruiters working to find Comanche in Oklahoma who would enlist. Members of other tribes served as Code Talkers but they were not specifically recruited by the military. Philip Johnston was a World War I veteran who had heard about the successes of the Choctaw telephone squad.

Johnston, although not Indian, had grown up on the Navajo reservation. He suggested to the Marine Corps that the Navajo and other tribes could be very helpful in maintaining communications secrecy. After viewing a demonstration of messages sent in the Navajo language, the Marine Corps was so impressed that they recruited twenty-nine Navajos in two weeks to develop a code within their language.

As the war progressed, more than Navajos were eventually recruited as Code Talkers. The training was intense. Following their basic training, the Code Talkers completed extensive training in communications and memorizing the code. Some Code Talkers enlisted; others were drafted.

Many of the Code Talkers who served were underage and had to lie about their age to enlist. Some were just fifteen years old. All I thought when I went in, the Marine Corps was going to give me a belt of ammunition and a rifle, a steel helmet, and a uniform. Go and shoot some of those Japanese.

These became known as Type Two Codes. However, the Navajo, Comanche, Hopi, and Meskwaki speakers developed and used special codes based on their languages. These became known as Type One Codes. To develop their Type One Code, the original twenty-nine Navajo Code Talkers first came up with English words for each letter of the alphabet. Since they had to memorize all the words, they used things that were familiar to them, such as kinds of animals.

Then, they translated those words into Navajo. So we start talking about different things, you know, animals, sea creatures, birds, eagles, hawks, and all those domestic animals. So A, we took a red ant that we live with all the time. The Navajo, Comanche, Hopi, and others also had to develop special words for World War II military terms, such as types of planes, ships, or weapons.

They were given picture charts that showed them the items. After looking at the pictures, they came up with words that seemed to fit the pictures. Try to match the Navajo code words and their English translation to the picture featured on the screen.

Click the word to see if your answer is correct! On the battlefield, the work of sending coded messages was extremely serious. Being able to keep messages secret could make the difference between winning and losing a battle—or affect how many lives were saved or lost. Code Talkers did more than speak into a hand-held radio or phone. They had to know how to operate both wire and radio equipment, and they often had to carry it on their backs.

Loved this! The photos are awesome, and the film at the end is wonderful. I hope the Navajo Code Talkers are never forgotten.

You learn something every day. Marine Corps leadership selected 29 Navajo men, the Navajo Code Talkers, who created a code based on the complex, unwritten Navajo language. The code primarily used word association by assigning a Navajo word to key phrases and military tactics. This system enabled the Code Talkers to translate three lines of English in 20 seconds, not 30 minutes as was common with existing code-breaking machines. Airplanes, we named after birds. During World Wars I and II, hundreds of Native American servicemen from more than twenty tribes used their Indigenous languages to send secret, coded messages enemies could never break.

Known as code talkers, these men helped U. Choctaw telephone squad, returned from fighting in World War I. Camp Merritt, New Jersey, June 7, The U.