WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – In a news release from the office of the Navajo Nation President, a proclamation was signed Wednesday, Aug. 14 to declare the date as Navajo Code Talker Day.
Navajo President Buu Nygren, Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley and Navajo Nation Supreme Court Chief Justice JoAnn Jayne commemorated the date to the attending 600 people.
In attendance was a three-star general of the U.S. Marine Corps, a congressman and dignitaries paid homage to the three remaining Navajo Code Talkers and the legendary memory of the 400 Code Talkers who used the Navajo language as a secret weapon during World War II.
“Our language is sacred,” Nygren said in the Navajo language at the Navajo Nation Fairgrounds Wednesday during a day full of celebratory events.
“Say thank you to our three remaining Code Talkers as they are aging,” he said. “Their hearts will appreciate the ‘thank you.’ As Navajo people, we always say what we say is very sacred and holy. So the message I was conveying in Navajo was that wherever our three Code Talkers are, we want to say thank you to them, and the Holy Beings will relay that message to them into their hearts.”
Of the three – John Kinsel 107, Thomas Begay, 99 and Peter MacDonald, 96 – only former Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter MacDonald could attend.
“Over 200 Navajo Code Talkers participated in the Iwo Jima landing,” MacDonald said. “I want to thank all of you here today to honor those 400 Code Talkers. We used a weapon that the enemy could not decipher, a weapon not even Navajos here on the reservation would know what in the world we were talking about in the Navajo code.”
“The Navajo Code Talkers, all veterans and those now serving in uniform are due respect and honor for their courage, sacrifice and dedication to preserve freedom and democracy for all,” the proclamation states.
“We call upon all citizens to celebrate the sacred Diné language as a living language for future generations of Navajos,” it reads.
By the end of World War II, the Navajo code was up to 800 Navajo words. It remained classified until 1968, and Code Talkers kept their secret long past that decade.
Keynote speaker Lt. General Michael S. Cederholm, Commanding General of 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, explained that the initial concept for Code Talkers was born in France during World War I. He said Choctaw, Cheyenne, Comanche, Cherokee, Osage and Yankton Sioux soldiers were recruited to transmit messages that relayed troop movements and tactical plans.
That led to immediate gains on the battlefield during World War II, he said.
“Code Talkers served in the U.S. Army in historic battles in Europe and North Africa to include Utah Beach during D-Day,” said Cederholm. “I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the resourcefulness of our Army brethren and the global scope of the Native American contributions to winning that terrible war and returning peace to our great world today.”
He said today’s event truly honored the remarkable accomplishment of the Navajo Code Talkers.
“Through their selfless sacrifice, through their heroism, their ingenuity established a legacy that is woven into the very fabric of our nation's history and into our uniforms, and indelibly linked with what it means to be a United States Marine,” he said.
The initial 29 Navajo Code Talkers developed an unbreakable code using the rich and complex Navajo language, Cederholm said.
“The code they created gave the Marine Corps a critical capability to communicate as they closed with and destroyed the enemy in historic battles such as Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Tarawa, Peleliu, Saipan and Iwo Jima,” he said. “They served in all six Marine divisions, Marine Raider battalions and Marine parachute members, transmitting information on enemy troop movements and tactics, official orders and other information vital to the Marine Corps success on the battlefield.”
For information or inquiries, contact the Navajo Nation Fair Office at nnfair@navajo-nsn.gov or (928) 810-5799.
