The idea to use Navajo for secure communications came from Philip Johnston.
Johnston, who was born on the Navajo reservation, was a World
War I veteran who knew of the military's search for a code that would withstand
all attempts to decipher it. He also knew that Native American languages like
Choctaw had been used in World War I to encode messages.
Johnston believed Navajo matched the military requirement for an
undecipherable code because Navajo was a complex, unwritten language.
Its qualities and dialects, made it
unintelligible to anyone without exposure to the language and training. It has no
alphabet or symbols, and is spoken only on the Navajo lands of the American
Southwest. One estimation was that less than 30 non-Navajos, none of them
Japanese, could understand the language at the beginning of World War II.
Early in 1942, Johnston met with Major General Clayton B. Vogel, the
commanding general of Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet, and his staff to convince
them of the Navajo language's value as code. Johnston performed tests under
simulated combat conditions, showing that Navajos could encode, transmit,
and decode a three-line English message in 20 seconds. Machines of the time
required 30 minutes to do the same job. Convinced, Vogel recommended to the
Commandant of the Marine Corps that the Marines recruit 200 Navajos.
In May of 1942, the first 29 Navajo recruits attended boot camp. Then, at Camp
Pendleton, Oceanside, California, this first group created the Navajo code. They
developed a dictionary and numerous words for military terms. The dictionary and
all code words had to be memorized during training.
Once a Navajo code talker completed his training, he was sent to a Marine
unit that was deployed in the Pacific theater. The code talkers' primary job was to talk,
transmitting information on tactics and troop movements, orders and other vital
communications over telephones and radios. They also acted as
messengers, and performed basic Marine duties.
The Japanese, who were skilled code breakers, remained confused by the Navajo
language. The Japanese chief of intelligence, Lieutenant General Seizo Arisue,
said that while they were able to decipher the codes used by the U.S. Army and
Army Air Corps, they never cracked the code used by the Marines
Johnston, who was born on the Navajo reservation, was a World
War I veteran who knew of the military's search for a code that would withstand
all attempts to decipher it. He also knew that Native American languages like
Choctaw had been used in World War I to encode messages.
Johnston believed Navajo matched the military requirement for an
undecipherable code because Navajo was a complex, unwritten language.
Its qualities and dialects, made it
unintelligible to anyone without exposure to the language and training. It has no
alphabet or symbols, and is spoken only on the Navajo lands of the American
Southwest. One estimation was that less than 30 non-Navajos, none of them
Japanese, could understand the language at the beginning of World War II.
Early in 1942, Johnston met with Major General Clayton B. Vogel, the
commanding general of Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet, and his staff to convince
them of the Navajo language's value as code. Johnston performed tests under
simulated combat conditions, showing that Navajos could encode, transmit,
and decode a three-line English message in 20 seconds. Machines of the time
required 30 minutes to do the same job. Convinced, Vogel recommended to the
Commandant of the Marine Corps that the Marines recruit 200 Navajos.
In May of 1942, the first 29 Navajo recruits attended boot camp. Then, at Camp
Pendleton, Oceanside, California, this first group created the Navajo code. They
developed a dictionary and numerous words for military terms. The dictionary and
all code words had to be memorized during training.
Once a Navajo code talker completed his training, he was sent to a Marine
unit that was deployed in the Pacific theater. The code talkers' primary job was to talk,
transmitting information on tactics and troop movements, orders and other vital
communications over telephones and radios. They also acted as
messengers, and performed basic Marine duties.
The Japanese, who were skilled code breakers, remained confused by the Navajo
language. The Japanese chief of intelligence, Lieutenant General Seizo Arisue,
said that while they were able to decipher the codes used by the U.S. Army and
Army Air Corps, they never cracked the code used by the Marines