Navajo Code Talkers

This exhibit honors the Navajo Marines who served as Code Talkers during World War II. The National Archives estimates their number at 375–420. Their work depended on a designed military code, memorisation and communication skills; it remained classified until 1968.

Philip Johnston proposed using Navajo for Marine Corps communications in 1942. The programme developed a specialised code; ordinary fluency in Navajo alone was not equivalent to knowing all its military meanings.

Some of the original 29 code developers served in the later stages of the Guadalcanal campaign in 1942; the original training group should not be equated with a single deployment. The Navajo Nation’s historical account quotes Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division signal officer at Iwo Jima: "Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima."

The programme was declassified in 1968. In 2001 the original 29 recruits were honoured with Congressional Gold Medals; later Navajo Code Talkers received silver medals.

The code assigned specialised Navajo terms to military concepts. Operators memorised it, but written dictionaries also existed: the Navy preserves a code-talker dictionary revised on 15 June 1945. The alphabet below can also be checked in the CIA’s reproduction of that dictionary’s alphabet section.

Military terms → Navajo words by meaning:

Fighter plane   = da-he-tih-hi    "hummingbird"
Bomber          = jay-sho         "buzzard"
Submarine       = besh-lo         "iron fish"
Destroyer       = ca-lo           "shark"
Battleship      = lo-tso          "whale"
General         = bih-keh-he      "war chief"
Colonel         = atsah-besh-le-gai "silver eagle"
America         = ne-he-mah       "our mother"

For words or names not assigned a codebook entry — a phonetic alphabet was used, each letter sent as a Navajo word whose English meaning began with that letter:

Phonetic alphabet:
A = WOL-LA-CHEE (ant)
G = KLIZZIE (goat)
I = TKIN (ice)
M = TSIN-TLITI (match)
O = A-KHA (oil)
U = SHI-DA (uncle)
W = GLOE-IH (weasel)

"IWO" = TKIN, GLOE-IH, A-KHA

(Words already in the codebook were sent whole:
"attack" = AL-TAH-JE-JAY)

Several practical obstacles confronted an interceptor:

• Navajo was unfamiliar to most Japanese analysts; this does not mean it had no writing, grammar or dictionaries.
• The specialised military meanings and spelling alphabet had to be learned in addition to the language.
• Fluent speakers could transmit and interpret the code quickly in difficult field conditions.
• Training and disciplined use supported the system; unfamiliarity alone is not a modern security guarantee.

Concept from Navajo Code	Modern Evolution
Security through linguistic complexity	Security through mathematical complexity — modern encryption must withstand analysis even when its algorithm is known
Shared knowledge as the key	Pre-shared keys (PSK): both parties must possess the same secret before communication
Memorised code vocabulary	Pre-shared secrets require a protected distribution process; public-key methods offer a different way to establish keys
Historical secrecy and later publication	Publication of a historical code does not imply forward secrecy, which is a separate property of modern key establishment

A short Navajo Code message. Use what you just learned.

Hint: Each Navajo word = one letter. A=ant, G=goat, M=match, U=uncle

Reveal Answer