Code Talker Characters

Ned’s father’s Navajo name translates as Gray Mustache. When Ned wants to enlist in the Marines, he and Ned’s mother make him wait until he is at least 16, but they finally give him their blessing to join up.

Ned’s great-grandfather was a young boy when Kit Carson forced the Navajo people into exile in 1864, a memory that remains vivid for the entire family.

Principal O’Sullivan is an angry, red-faced, and red-haired man who leads the Rehoboth Mission School. He beats the children if they persist in speaking Navajo.

Mr. Reamer is a skinny blond man who teaches at the Rehoboth Mission School. It’s his job to assign English names to each new student, including Ned Begay. Mr. Reamer thinks he understands the Navajo language, but his comprehension isn’t very good.

Mr. Straight is Ned’s social studies teacher at Navajo High School, a tall, thin, pale man with glasses. He praises Ned’s research on Japan but makes him wear a dunce cap for speaking a single word of Navajo.

Tommy Nez is Ned’s friend at the mission school and Navajo High School.

Jesse Chee is Ned’s friend at the mission school and Navajo High School. He helps Ned after Ned gets his mouth washed out with soap as a new student.

First Sergeant Shinn is the Marine recruiter on the Navajo reservation. Ned hears his first recruiting speech from Sergeant Shinn and enlists in his office a year later.

John Benally is one of Ned’s platoon’s code school instructors.

Corporal Radant is one of Ned’s platoon’s instructors. He teaches Morse code. He is good-natured, and the recruits love to play tricks on him and tease him during breaks in class.

Gene-gene is a Solomon Islands chief whom Ned meets during training maneuvers on Guadalcanal. They have a conversation about their love for their respective homelands.

Stormy leads Ned’s platoon in training maneuvers in desert terrain on Hawaii. Ned and his fellow Navajos trick Stormy by getting water from prickly pear cactuses instead of drinking from their canteens.

John Roanhorse is a friend of Ned’s at Rehoboth Mission School who is cruelly beaten and later chained in the basement for defiantly speaking Navajo.

Bill is a fellow code talker marine. He and Ned are a team and work together to send messages.

Wilsie and Ned share a tent on Guam. While there, they give shelter to an orphaned Chamorro boy, Johnny.

Johnny is an orphaned Chamorro boy (a native of Guam) whom Ned and Wilsie Bitsie take care of during their weeks on Guam.

Sam Begay is a veteran from the first platoon of Navajo code talkers.

Bill McCabe is a veteran from the first platoon of Navajo code talkers.

Wilfred Billey is Ned’s fellow Navajo marine, who fights on Saipan.

Harry is one of the original group of code talkers. He is killed by friendly fire on Bougainville.

Charlie is a code talker whom his friends left for dead on Guam, but he ends up recovering and returning to duty.

Joe Rosenthal is an Associated Press photographer who reached the top of Iwo Jima’s Mount Suribachi two hours after it was taken by the U.S. Marines. He took the flag-raising photo which included Ira Hayes and which became one of the most famous photographs from World War II.