http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ckcy5XplxwA

Setting the Stage!

• 1942 – WWII• German and Japanese’s advance ability in

breaking codes. – Fake Messages hindered progression

• War of the Pacific – More spread out

Who?

• Philip Johnson – proposed the idea!• Navajo Language– Complex Language– Untouched by Germans

• 29 Navajo Soldiers recruited– Navajo Code Talkers!!

The Code•211 common military words

•System to spell out words• Multiple words for same letter

•Memorize Everything

• Nothing written down

In the Field

• Slow to be accepted• Proven worthy – faster than Americans

• “At first there were quite a few generals and commanders who didn't think it was going to work. So they set up two communications centers, one run by white signalmen. They gave us both 10 messages to send and decipher. Theirs took almost five minutes to cipher and decode, ours took one to two minutes,”

• Chester Nez

In the Field

• Courageous and Dedicated– Traveled frontlines to relay messages

• Towards end of war – Rare Commodity– Received bodyguards to protect

• Iwo Jima – entirely directed by code– 6 code talkers : 800 messages : perfectly

Quick Review / Discussion

• Who was Philip Johnson• What was wrong with the original code

system?• Why the Navajo language?• Why do you think they are called The Unsung

Heroes?

Unsung Heroes

“If God alone may know, they saved thousands of American lives, yet their tale had been hidden by the very role they played: Talk silent, speak swift, stay alive.” (McClain)