National Navajo Code Talkers Day

(Native drums, music)

In the early part of World War II, the enemy was breaking every military code that was being used in the Pacific. This created a huge problem… Eventually a suggestion was made in early 1942...essentially, to use Navajo language as a code. The Marine Corps recruited 29 young Navajos... They were just asked, “You want to join the Marines? You want to fight the enemy? Come join the Marines”...
After going through boot camp... combat training... Marine Corps Communications School...  they were separated from all the rest of the Marines, took them to a top secret location, just east of San Diego, Camp Elliott. 
That’s where they created a military code, to be used in the Pacific… 
On August 7, 1942...First Marine Division hit the beaches of Guadalcanal with 15 Navajo code talkers. 
This was the first battle where the Navajo code was to be tested in actual battle, to test and see how our memory would be under heavy enemy fire. 
Well, three weeks after the landing, General Vandegrift, Commander of the First Marine Division, sent word back to the United States saying this Navajo code is terrific. “The enemy never understood it,” he said, “We don’t understand it either, but it works. Send us some more Navajos”...
Eventually by the time the war ended in 1945 there were 400 of us that went to war…
What we did truly represents who we are as Americans. America we know is composed of diverse communities. We have different languages, different skills, different talents and different religions. But when our way of life is threatened, freedom and liberty that we all cherish, we come together as one. And when we come together as one, we are invincible. We cannot be defeated.