"What if" in History - No. 1) Dec. 21, 1943: NEW YORK TIMES set to publish Navajo code
DFU "what if" in history | Dec. 21, 1943 | Jonathon Risen (fictitious name)
Posted on 12/21/2005 8:54:24 PM PST by doug from upland
Jonathon Risen, New York Times
Dateline: New York
Dec. 21, 1943
In an exclusive interview with a Navajo Indian, the NEW YORK TIMES has learned that Navajo Indians have been forced into service by the U.S. military establishment.
It is shocking that, in the middle of the 20th Century, such abuse of our Native Americans could be taking place without approval of the courts. Neither President Roosevelt nor Secretary of War Stimson has given a public comment or returned a telephone call.
The TIMES has learned that so-called Navajo Code Talkers have been used by our military for secure communications. It can now be reported that they have served all six Marine divisions, Marine Raider battalions, and Marine parachute units, transmitting messages by telephone and radio in their native language. The Japanese have not been able to break the code.
In May 1942, the first 29 Navajo recruits attended boot camp. Then, at Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, California, this first group created the Navajo code. They developed a dictionary and numerous words for military terms. The dictionary and all code words had to be memorized during training.
Once a Navajo code talker completed his training, he was sent to a Marine unit deployed in the Pacific theater. The code talkers' primary job was to talk, transmitting information on tactics and troop movements, orders and other vital battlefield communications over telephones and radios. They also acted as messengers, and performed general Marine duties.
When a Navajo code talker received a message, what he heard was a string of seemingly unrelated Navajo words. The code talker first had to translate each Navajo word into its English equivalent. Then he used only the first letter of the English equivalent in spelling an English word. Thus, the Navajo words "wol-la-chee" (ant), "be-la-sana" (apple) and "tse-nill" (axe) all stood for the letter "a." One way to say the word "Navy" in Navajo code would be "tsah (needle) wol-la-chee (ant) ah-keh-di- glini (victor) tsah-ah-dzoh (yucca)."
Most letters had more than one Navajo word representing them. Not all words had to be spelled out letter by letter. The developers of the original code assigned Navajo words to represent about 450 frequently used military terms that did not exist in the Navajo language. Several examples: "besh- lo" (iron fish) meant "submarine," "dah-he- tih-hi" (hummingbird) meant "fighter plane" and "debeh-li-zine" (black street) meant "squad."
In our next report, we are prepared to name the Navajos who have assisted the Marines, and we will also name the additional personnel who are familiar with the code.
A source has come forward, exclusively to the TIMES, who has delivered to our offices what he purports to be the complete code being used in the South Pacific. If we are able to ascertain that the information is genuine, we will publish the entire code in a special edition next Sunday. It will be available at newsstands everywhere.
No comments:
Post a Comment