This website was created as an 8th grade Social Studies project.
Students created fictional personas based on research
Students created fictional personas based on research
Enlisting in the Army
I was just fifteen when the war started, so I told the recruiting officer that I was 18 years old in order to serve my country. I was not the only one that lied about my age so I could serve my country, and others ate bunches of bananas or drank lots of water to meet the 122 lb weight minimum. There were also many that could not join because they did not speak English. On the day the war started, I marched with many other men from my tribe to join the army with my rifle on my shoulder. When we got to the recruiting offices, the recruiting officer told us that our weapons would be provided for us and we didn't need to bring our own.
I was one of the first people to join the ranks of the code talkers. I am glad that I chose to serve my country in this way. Of the 50,000 tribe members in 1942, 540 were serving in the Marines in 1945. Of those 540, 375 to 420 were Code Talkers.
I was one of the first people to join the ranks of the code talkers. I am glad that I chose to serve my country in this way. Of the 50,000 tribe members in 1942, 540 were serving in the Marines in 1945. Of those 540, 375 to 420 were Code Talkers.
Basic Training
Basic Training was not easy, but having dealt with harsh conditions on the reservation made it more bearable for my fellow Navajos and I than the white men we fought alongside. We also had desert survival skills that we had been using all our lives, which helped us exceed in exercises that were impossible for white men.
Camp Elliot: Making the Code
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After we finished basic training, Code Talkers to be went to Camp Elliot in California to learn the tools of the communications trade. After we had mastered Morse code, wire laying, pole climbing, and radio repair, we began to create the code. We were given a list of 211 military terms, and quickly set about the task of creating Navajo equivalents. We also created a simple alphabet code for other words that were not included in the list of 211 words, as well as proper names.
Life Island Hopping
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The things I saw at war will always haunt me, but I am glad that I was of service to my country in it's time of need. The climate on tropical islands is very different from the desert environment I grew up in, and was not easy to get used to. The humidity made the heat unbearable, and sweat provided no relief, as all it did was join the moisture in the air on it's quest to coat our bodies. Even without the horrors of war, my experiences in the Pacific would have been unpleasant. My main job was to send and receive coded messages about strategy, when and where to attack, and, most importantly, give information about the Japanese to the Americans without letting the Japanese discover information about the Americans. This wasn't an easy job, and it was made much harder by the equipment we had to use. The radios were large, heavy, and unwieldy, and we had to carry them along with all of our possessions whenever the army moved. The danger of friendly fire was also more acute for Navajos than for white people because our appearance was similar to the Japanese. One of the white men in the 5th Marine division mistook me for a Japanese, and this and other situations like it caused the leaders of the 5th Marine Division and others with code talkers to take the precaution of assigning a white "guard" to every Code Talker so the other Americans could tell friend from foe.
Taking Iwo Jima
"If not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima" -Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division Signal Officer
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I will never forget the battle of Iwo Jima. It was the bloodiest and most horrific battle that I saw as a Code Talker. Strategically, Iwo Jima was one of the most important battles in WWII. The Americans needed to capture it, and the Japanese needed to defend it bitterly, because it was the perfect setting for an air base to use for launching missiles aimed at mainland Japan. It also provided a perfect base for other war machines who had either just returned from bombing Japan, or were on their way to bomb Japan. As a result, the seizure of Iwo Jima was deemed necessary, and Japanese fought bitterly to defend such an important strategic base.
Iwo Jima was not a short battle. It began in June of 1944, with intensive shelling (the most intensive shelling of any Pacific island during the entire war). The Marines also requested 10 days of pre-invasion naval bombardment before we attacked three of which were provided, and of which I am glad, because I am sure that we would have suffered even heavier casualties without it. On Febuary 19th, 1945 more than 450 ships carried men from the Marines to various beaches. The 5th Marine Division landed on Green Beach. At first, we met very little enemy resistance, and I allowed myself to think that perhaps capturing Iwo Jima wouldn't be that hard, and that it certainty couldn't be the hardest battle in the war. Coarse volcanic sand made walking up the beach extremely tough, especially while carrying the heavy radio I needed for Code Talking. As soon as we got high enough that the Navy stopped firing so they wouldn't hit us, the real battle began. The Japanese burst out from their fortified underground positions and began to kill everyone they could. I tripped just before they began firing, and fell flat on my face just behind a small rise. I got pretty scraped up, but I avoided the shelling, which is more than many can say. Most of the soldiers who didn't happen to be behind a tank at the time were killed. Soon, I saw my commander, the 5th Marine Division Signal Officer Major Howard Connor, waving to me from behind a nearby tank. I crawled over to him. dragging my heavy radio and being very careful to stay beneath the minute rise that protected me from the constant shelling from the Japanese. He told me that he needed me to send a message back to the mainland, letting him know how the invasion was going. Pretty soon, I was working with five other Code Talkers, sending messages back to the mainland and receiving messages from the relative safety behind the tank. A couple of hours later, we got the notice that those Japanese had retreated, and we had to move on and complete our mission. We had the task of isolating Mount Suribachi. This time, my fellow Code Talkers and I traveled together behind the saftey of the tank we had sheltered behind on the beach. We shared the load of the three radios we had altogether, as well as the lighter transmitters. Instead of attempting to use a slightly safer method of attack, such as concealing ourselves while we picked off enemy soldiers, then advancing, we staged a full frontal assult, painfully winning every inch of ground and hoping, always hoping that you wouldn't be the next soldier to fall. Finally, we reached Mount Suribachi, and stopped having to walk and transmit messages at the same time. While our white comrades fought bitterly against the Japanese, we used a different weapon to serve our country: words. We worked tirelessly, and after what felt like an eternity, even though it was only a few hours, we had surrounded the mountain. The fighting went on all through the night, and the next day, we secured the rest of the southern end of Iwo Jima, and soon we moved on to take the summit. This difficult battle lasted three days, but at last, we reached the top of Mount Surimachi, and some of my comrades, including one Code Talker, raised the U.S. flag over Iwo Jima. From there, we had a great vantage point and could tell the officers back at home what was going on over radio. On March 26, the island was deemed secure and the battle was at last over. When at last the campaign was won, there were more than 26,000 American casualties, including 6,800 dead, but it is common belief that made the difference between winning and losing the war.
Iwo Jima was not a short battle. It began in June of 1944, with intensive shelling (the most intensive shelling of any Pacific island during the entire war). The Marines also requested 10 days of pre-invasion naval bombardment before we attacked three of which were provided, and of which I am glad, because I am sure that we would have suffered even heavier casualties without it. On Febuary 19th, 1945 more than 450 ships carried men from the Marines to various beaches. The 5th Marine Division landed on Green Beach. At first, we met very little enemy resistance, and I allowed myself to think that perhaps capturing Iwo Jima wouldn't be that hard, and that it certainty couldn't be the hardest battle in the war. Coarse volcanic sand made walking up the beach extremely tough, especially while carrying the heavy radio I needed for Code Talking. As soon as we got high enough that the Navy stopped firing so they wouldn't hit us, the real battle began. The Japanese burst out from their fortified underground positions and began to kill everyone they could. I tripped just before they began firing, and fell flat on my face just behind a small rise. I got pretty scraped up, but I avoided the shelling, which is more than many can say. Most of the soldiers who didn't happen to be behind a tank at the time were killed. Soon, I saw my commander, the 5th Marine Division Signal Officer Major Howard Connor, waving to me from behind a nearby tank. I crawled over to him. dragging my heavy radio and being very careful to stay beneath the minute rise that protected me from the constant shelling from the Japanese. He told me that he needed me to send a message back to the mainland, letting him know how the invasion was going. Pretty soon, I was working with five other Code Talkers, sending messages back to the mainland and receiving messages from the relative safety behind the tank. A couple of hours later, we got the notice that those Japanese had retreated, and we had to move on and complete our mission. We had the task of isolating Mount Suribachi. This time, my fellow Code Talkers and I traveled together behind the saftey of the tank we had sheltered behind on the beach. We shared the load of the three radios we had altogether, as well as the lighter transmitters. Instead of attempting to use a slightly safer method of attack, such as concealing ourselves while we picked off enemy soldiers, then advancing, we staged a full frontal assult, painfully winning every inch of ground and hoping, always hoping that you wouldn't be the next soldier to fall. Finally, we reached Mount Suribachi, and stopped having to walk and transmit messages at the same time. While our white comrades fought bitterly against the Japanese, we used a different weapon to serve our country: words. We worked tirelessly, and after what felt like an eternity, even though it was only a few hours, we had surrounded the mountain. The fighting went on all through the night, and the next day, we secured the rest of the southern end of Iwo Jima, and soon we moved on to take the summit. This difficult battle lasted three days, but at last, we reached the top of Mount Surimachi, and some of my comrades, including one Code Talker, raised the U.S. flag over Iwo Jima. From there, we had a great vantage point and could tell the officers back at home what was going on over radio. On March 26, the island was deemed secure and the battle was at last over. When at last the campaign was won, there were more than 26,000 American casualties, including 6,800 dead, but it is common belief that made the difference between winning and losing the war.