Navajo Code Talkers: the Unspoken Heroes of World War Ii
Navajo Code Talkers:
The Unspoken Heroes of World War II
The Unspoken Heroes of World War II
It’s a normal day in June 1944 and we were located on the Pacific Island of Saipan. As were walking through the lush, tangled wilderness with dense sugar-cane, steep ravines and jagged volcanic mountains, there was no such thing as a battle line for us soldiers. Danger was everywhere. The unseen enemy could be hidden by the thick tropical vegetation and the pitch black darkness of the new mooned night. Our eyes where constantly looking from the left to the right as we crossed by the walls of caves looking at the trees sprouting out of them for barrels pointing back. When we would stop for the night, we cherished the passing day, for we know tomorrow could be our last.
One morning as we woke up from our uncomfortable beds, the ground, we noticed a silence along the enemy front. Carefully we scouted the terrain. They were gone. The Japanese had abandoned the area and retreated to new ground. As we inspected the area where they once occupied, suddenly artillery shells exploded all around us. I jumped to the ground as shrapnel exploded and flew overhead striking the tree that was behind me. We were being attacked. Not by the Japanese, but from our own guns. The radioman started shouting, “We are Americans! Stop The Artillery!”
Nothing stopped, for the artillery commanders faced a known problem. The Japanese were far more fluent in English then we were in Japanese and have been known to send out faulty reports in perfect English. They thought it was just an enemy trick. “Stop Firing! We are Americans!” was echoed through the radio, each one more desperate then the last. Finally, a message was sent back, “Do you have a Navajo?” I was rushed forward, almost swept off my feet. Handing over my rifle to the radioman and started talking code. Within seconds the artillery stopped (Bruchac 2005, 135-7).
This was a reenactment of an incident involving the
The Unspoken Heroes of World War II
The Unspoken Heroes of World War II
It’s a normal day in June 1944 and we were located on the Pacific Island of Saipan. As were walking through the lush, tangled wilderness with dense sugar-cane, steep ravines and jagged volcanic mountains, there was no such thing as a battle line for us soldiers. Danger was everywhere. The unseen enemy could be hidden by the thick tropical vegetation and the pitch black darkness of the new mooned night. Our eyes where constantly looking from the left to the right as we crossed by the walls of caves looking at the trees sprouting out of them for barrels pointing back. When we would stop for the night, we cherished the passing day, for we know tomorrow could be our last.
One morning as we woke up from our uncomfortable beds, the ground, we noticed a silence along the enemy front. Carefully we scouted the terrain. They were gone. The Japanese had abandoned the area and retreated to new ground. As we inspected the area where they once occupied, suddenly artillery shells exploded all around us. I jumped to the ground as shrapnel exploded and flew overhead striking the tree that was behind me. We were being attacked. Not by the Japanese, but from our own guns. The radioman started shouting, “We are Americans! Stop The Artillery!”
Nothing stopped, for the artillery commanders faced a known problem. The Japanese were far more fluent in English then we were in Japanese and have been known to send out faulty reports in perfect English. They thought it was just an enemy trick. “Stop Firing! We are Americans!” was echoed through the radio, each one more desperate then the last. Finally, a message was sent back, “Do you have a Navajo?” I was rushed forward, almost swept off my feet. Handing over my rifle to the radioman and started talking code. Within seconds the artillery stopped (Bruchac 2005, 135-7).
This was a reenactment of an incident involving the
Bibliography: *AAaseng, Nathan. Navajo Code Talkers. Walker Publishing Company Inc., 1992. Bingaman, Jeff. Navajo Code Talkers. http://bingaman.senate.gov/features/codetalkers/code.cfm (accessed November 12, 2010). Bruchac, Joseph. Code Talker. Dial Books, 2005. Gray, Butler. Bush Presents Congressional Gold Medals to Navajo Code Talkers. July 26, 2001. http://www.america.gov/st/peopleplace-english/2001/July/20080512115719tbyarg0.9792292.html (accessed November 11, 2010). Jr., Harrison Lapahie. Navajo Reagan. http://www.lapahie.com/Navajo_Reagan.cfm (accessed November 11, 2010). Navajo Code Talkers: World War II Fact Sheet. http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq61-2.htm (accessed November 12, 2010).