Code Talkers

During World War I and World War II, hundreds of American Indians joined the United States Armed Forces and used words from their traditional tribal languages as weapons. Some tribes were recruited by the United States military to develop secret battle communications using their languages. Other Native people found one another during the war and informally used their languages to subvert the enemy. “Code Talkers,” as they came to be known after World War II, are twentieth-century American Indian warriors who significantly aided the victories of the United States and its allies.

Protecting the Homelands

American Indian nations have always fought to defend themselves. Anyone who threatened their families, cultures, and lands was their enemy, including the United States. As a result of wars with the United States, many tribes were forced off their lands, relocated, or confined to reservations where they endured poverty, racism, and attempts to erase their traditional cultures. Languages were particularly targeted in the government’s efforts to change American Indians’ ways of life. Beginning in the late 1800s, Indian children were forbidden to speak their own languages and punished in government- and church-supported boarding schools if they did.

Many American Indians were not legally considered citizens of the United States until 1924. Even then, some states refused to let American Indians vote until as late as the 1950s.

Despite this tragic history, many American Indian men and women have served in all branches of the military. In many conflicts and wars, including World War I and World War II, American Indians honorably defended their homelands and the United States.

Navajo Code Talkers and U.S. Marine Privates First Class Alec E. Nez (left) and William D. Yazzie received awards for their excellent marksmanship.
Two soldiers in uniform. Defense Department photograph, courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration, 127-MN-145995

Twentieth-Century Warriors

American Indian Code Talkers were communications specialists. Their job was to send coded messages about troop movements, enemy positions, and other critical information on the battlefield. Some Code Talkers translated messages into their Native languages and relayed them to another tribal member. Others developed special codes within their languages that they used in combat to send important messages.

Navajo cousins Private First Class Preston Toledo (left) and Private First Class Frank Toledo were both Code Talkers. They served in a marine artillery regiment in the South Pacific.
Two Navajo Code Talkers. Photograph courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration, 127-GR-1375-7875

It became serious when we started to develop that code. You know, they wouldn’t let anybody in there. They kind of shut us out, secretly you know. Trying to talk about it back and forth. And there’s lots of guards around.

John Brown Jr., Navajo Code Talker

This major took us into a great big room and he said, “you guys are going to have to make up a code in your own native language,” that’s all he said. He left, closed the door behind him and locked the door. We didn’t know what to think, you know? What does he mean by making a code in our own language? We sat there for about three or four minutes thinking, how are we going to develop this code?

Chester Nez, Navajo Code Talker