Code Talker

by

Joseph Bruchac

Navajo Term Analysis

The Navajo or Diné people are native to the southwestern United States. Navajo also refers to this people’s native language. Historically, the Navajo practiced agriculture and shepherding, like Ned’s family does. In 1864, 8,000 Navajo people were forcibly marched 300 miles by Colonel Kit Carson from their homeland to Fort Sumner, New Mexico. After four years, the Navajo signed a treaty with the U.S. government, allowing them to return to a reservation in the Four Corners region. Today, that reservation is the largest such territory in the United States. Bilingual Navajos were especially sought out for service in World War II, during which they transmitted secret code using their native language and had an impact that went far beyond their small numbers.

Navajo Quotes in Code Talker

The Code Talker quotes below are all either spoken by Navajo or refer to Navajo. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Memory, Language, and Identity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

I turned to look up at my uncle's kind face. […] I was frightened by the thought of being away from home for the first time in my life, but I was also trying to find courage. My uncle seemed to know that.

"Little Boy," he said, "Sister's first son, listen to me. You are not going to school for yourself. You are doing this for your family. To learn the ways of the bilagáanaa, the white people, is a good thing. Our Navajo language is sacred and beautiful. Yet all the laws of the United States, those laws that we now have to live by, they are in English."

Related Characters: Ned Begay (speaker), Uncle (speaker)
Page Number: 8
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

It was not always easy for me to understand what those other boys and girls were saying. Even though we all spoke in Navajo, we had come from many distant parts of Dinetah. In those days, our language was not spoken the same everywhere by every group of Navajos. But, despite the fact that some of those other children spoke our sacred language differently, what we were doing made me feel happier and more peaceful. We were doing things as our elders had taught us. We were putting ourselves in balance.

Related Characters: Ned Begay (speaker)
Page Number: 14
Explanation and Analysis:

"Navajo is no good, of no use at all!" Principal O'Sullivan shouted at us every day. "Only English will help you get ahead in this world!"

Although the teachers at the school spoke in quieter tones than our principal, they all said the same. It was no good to speak Navajo or be Navajo. Everything about us that was Indian had to be forgotten.

Related Characters: Ned Begay (speaker), Principal O’Sullivan (speaker)
Page Number: 18
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

However, I was stubborn in ways the teachers could not see. I spoke nothing but Navajo whenever I was alone with other Indian students. In the basement of the school or out back behind the wood shed, I learned Navajo songs and stories. Some students in that school, especially after being beaten enough times for talking Indian, reached the point where it became hard for them to speak Navajo, even when they wanted to. But it was not that way for me. If anything, rather than taking my language away from me, boarding school made me more determined never to forget it.

Related Characters: Ned Begay (speaker)
Page Number: 26
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

For most Navajos, though, the possibility of war was very far away. Caring for their herds and trying to make ends meet was all they had time to think about. But our Navajo Tribal Council passed a special resolution in June of 1940. I liked their words so much that I made a copy of them on a piece of paper to carry with me in my wallet. I’ve kept those strong words all these years, though I have had to recopy them several times when the paper they were printed on grew worn from being folded and unfolded or when it was soaked by the salt water as we landed on those beaches. It is often that way, you know. Strong words outlast the paper they are written upon.

Related Characters: Ned Begay (speaker)
Page Number: 34
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

"Do you know how many of the twenty-nine men in our platoon washed out?" Johnny Manuelito asked us. "Not even one!"

I was not surprised. Those things that he said a Marine recruit needed to learn were part of our everyday Navajo life back then. We were used to walking great distances over hard terrain while carrying things. We would stay out with our herds of sheep overnight and in the worst weather. Going for two or three days without eating was not unusual for us, even those of us who had gone off to boarding school.

Related Characters: Ned Begay (speaker), Corporal Johnny Manuelito (speaker)
Page Number: 49
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

You see, grandchildren, Fort Defiance is the place where our Navajo people were herded together in 1863 to start them on the Long Walk. Their first stop along that hard and painful way was Fort Wingate. Now, eighty years later, Navajos were making that same trip again. This time, though, it was not to go into exile. This time we were going to fight as warriors for the same United States that had treated our ancestors so cruelly.

Related Characters: Ned Begay (speaker)
Page Number: 58
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

"You have done well," Johnny Manuelito said. "But you must learn to be perfect if you wish to become a code talker."

Code talker. It was the first time I had ever heard that name, but it sounded good to me. Then our two Navajo instructors began to explain our duties to us. The more they said, the better it sounded. Our job was to learn a new top-secret code based on the Navajo language. We would also be trained to be expert in every form of communication used by the Marine Corps, from radios to Morse code. Using our code, we could send battlefield messages that no one but another Navajo code talker could understand.

Related Characters: Ned Begay (speaker), Corporal Johnny Manuelito (speaker)
Page Number: 73
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 12 Quotes

[The] warning did not frighten me. It made me proud that our sacred language was so important to America. It felt good to know that we were the only ones who could do this useful thing. We swore that we would protect the code with our lives, and we kept our word. I am not sure how many of us became Navajo code talkers during World War Two, but I know that it was close to four hundred men. While it remained classified, not one of us ever told about the code, not even to our families. We kept it secret throughout the war and long after.

Related Characters: Ned Begay (speaker)
Page Number: 77
Explanation and Analysis:

It was so good. It was good to have our language respected in this way. It was good to be here in this way. It was good that we could do something no one but another Navajo could do. Knowing our own language and culture could save the lives of Americans we had never met and help defeat enemies who wanted to destroy us.

Related Characters: Ned Begay (speaker)
Page Number: 82
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

Some of the things those generals wrote made me feel so good that I almost laughed out loud. Remember, grandchildren, like so many other Navajos, I had grown up hearing only criticism and hard words from the bilagáanaas about our people. We Navajos were stupid. We were lazy. We could not be taught anything. We could never be as good as any white man. To hear what was now being said truly made the sun shine in my heart.

The Navajos have proved to be excellent Marines, intelligent, industrious, easily taught to send and receive by key and excellent in the field.

That is what the commanding general of the Sixth Marine Division put in his official report. […] Each Marine division was expected to have at least 100 code talkers.

Related Characters: Ned Begay (speaker)
Page Number: 136
Explanation and Analysis:

I was not one of those who tried to forget through drinking, although I was tempted. […] What helped me through those times of uncertainty were thoughts of my home and family. It comforted me to know that my family was praying for me during those times. I felt close to them when I rose each morning and used corn pollen at dawn. In that way, even when I was sad and afraid, I kept it in mind that the Holy People would not forget me. Being a Navajo and keeping to our Navajo Way helped me survive not just the war, but all those times of quiet and anxious waiting that were not yet peace.

Related Characters: Ned Begay (speaker)
Related Symbols: Corn Pollen
Page Number: 139
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 26 Quotes

I also hear clear voices when I remember that time. I hear those voices and my own heart grows calm again. They are Navajo voices speaking strongly in our sacred language. Speaking over the concussions of the exploding shells so close that the pressure in the air made it hard to breathe. Speaking above the deadly whirr of shrapnel, the snap of Japanese rifles, and the ping of bullets bouncing off our radio equipment. Speaking calmly. Speaking even when our enemies tried to confuse us by getting on our frequency to scream loudly in our ears and bang pots and pans. […] Even when our voices grew hoarse, we did not stop. Our Navajo nets kept everything connected like a spider's strands spanning distant branches. […] As the battle for Iwo Jima raged all around us, our voices held it together.

Related Characters: Ned Begay (speaker)
Page Number: 186
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 29 Quotes

It was not easy and I did not do it quickly. For one thing, I still had to be healed. Those of us who came back to Dinetah from the war were all wounded, not just in our bodies, but in our minds and our spirits. You know that our Navajo way is to be quiet and modest. So when we Navajo soldiers came back, there were no parties or big parades for us as there were for the bilagáanaa G.I.s in their hometowns. We Navajos were just expected to fit back in.

Related Characters: Ned Begay (speaker)
Page Number: 211
Explanation and Analysis:

So, my grandchildren, that is the tale this medal has helped me to tell. It is not just my story but a story of our people and of the strength that we gain from holding on to our language, from being Dine'. I pray that none of you will ever have to go into battle as I did. I also pray that you will fight to keep our language, to hold on to it with the same warrior spirit that our Indian people showed in that war. Let our language keep you strong and you will never forget what it is to be Navajo. You will never forget what it means to walk in beauty.

Related Characters: Ned Begay (speaker)
Page Number: 214
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Code Talker LitChart as a printable PDF.
Code Talker PDF

Navajo Term Timeline in Code Talker

The timeline below shows where the term Navajo appears in Code Talker. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Listen, My Grandchildren
Memory, Language, and Identity Theme Icon
The Navajo Way and the Life of the Warrior Theme Icon
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War, Healing, and Peace Theme Icon
...years, he wasn’t allowed to tell the story behind this medal. It’s the story of Navajo marines’ role in the American victory in World War II. It is a big story,... (full context)
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...country or its people. But Ned is getting ahead of himself—he hasn’t explained why the Navajo language was so important during World War II. It’s because he was a Navajo code... (full context)
Chapter 1: Sent Away
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...the Americans, led by “Red Shirt,” or Kit Carson, waged their last war against the Navajos. This war happened, he says, because the Americans did not know the Navajos, and they... (full context)
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...homeland, praying, and doing a special ceremony. At that point, the white men permitted the Navajos to return home. But the Navajo people would have to learn the white men’s ways... (full context)
Chapter 2: Boarding School
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Ned, clutching his few belongings, sees other Navajo children standing around uncertainly. Like Ned, they are all dressed in their finest clothing and... (full context)
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...yet understand that among white people, it’s considered polite to make eye contact. For the Navajo, this is only done when you are about to attack an enemy. (full context)
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Then, a Navajo man steps forward and introduces himself as Jacob Benally. The children have never seen a... (full context)
Chapter 3: To Be Forgotten
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...are brought to a skinny white man named Mr. Reamer. Mr. Reamer tries to speak Navajo while Mr. Benally translates. He creates surnames for each child based on the name of... (full context)
Chapter 4: Progress
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...children are taught to read. They quickly learn what it means—that anything associated with the Navajo way is bad, especially the language. (full context)
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On his second day of school, Ned unthinkingly greets Mr. Reamer with polite Navajo words. Mr. Reamer immediately scoops up Ned like a naughty puppy and carries him to... (full context)
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...bigger boy, Jesse Chee— help him back to his dormitory. Jesse whispers to Ned in Navajo that he will “return to balance again.” He promises that the Holy People haven’t forgotten... (full context)
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...to get his mouth washed out again, so he does his best to avoid speaking Navajo when any teachers are around. Most other kids do the same. However, some kids are... (full context)
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Ned is neither defiant nor careless about speaking Navajo. He works hard at learning English, and other subjects, too—especially history and geography. He loves... (full context)
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However, Ned is stubborn in other ways—he speaks Navajo whenever he’s alone with other kids and learns Navajo songs and stories. Some kids are... (full context)
Chapter 5: High School
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...rather than fighting, retreat inside themselves. Most of the teachers don’t expect very much from Navajo students, and the students, in turn, give them little. But Ned’s lifelong love of learning... (full context)
Chapter 6: Sneak Attack
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For most Navajos, the threat of war seems distant. However, in 1940, the Navajo Tribal Council passes a... (full context)
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...two days ago. Ned’s social studies teacher, Mr. Straight, overheard Ned greeting his friends in Navajo. For this one word, he puts Ned in front of the classroom with a dunce... (full context)
Chapter 7: Navajos Wanted
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...Pacific have fallen to the Japanese. Ned studies his geography book to locate them. Many Navajos want to help the war effort. The Tribal Council declares war on Germany, Japan, and... (full context)
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...reservation via shortwave radio. A Marine recruiter is coming to Fort Defiance in search of Navajo volunteers for a special job. Only men who are fluent in both English and Navajo... (full context)
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...seeking a “few good men” and that enlisting would provide new opportunities. Ned observes that Navajos have been listening to white men speak for a long time and can tell when... (full context)
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Ned thinks he sees a way around this problem. Most Navajos do not have birth certificates, having been born at home. If his parents claim he... (full context)
Chapter 8: New Recruits
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...29 men are recruited, nobody knows what their so-called special duty will be. After the all-Navajo platoon is bused away from Fort Defiance, nobody hears from them for months. Eventually, a... (full context)
The Navajo Way and the Life of the Warrior Theme Icon
...white man usually washes out of boot camp. But not a single member of the Navajo platoon washed out. Ned is not surprised to hear this. The skills tested in Marine... (full context)
Chapter 9: The Blessingway
The Navajo Way and the Life of the Warrior Theme Icon
War, Healing, and Peace Theme Icon
...do a ceremony, a “Blessingway,” that will keep him safe when in danger. The singer’s Navajo name is Big Schoolboy, but he is also known as Frank Mitchell. Ned addresses him... (full context)
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...says that “being Catholic did not mean we would forget the Holy People and our Navajo Way.” Hosteen Mitchell is a respected man, and Ned likes his modesty and humor. Hosteen... (full context)
Chapter 10: Boot Camp
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...is allowed to take the oath. In March, 1943, he and more than 60 other Navajo men take the bus from Fort Defiance to Fort Wingate to be sworn in. (full context)
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Fort Defiance was the place where, in 1863, the Navajo people were first gathered for the Long Walk into exile. Fort Wingate had been their... (full context)
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The Navajo Way and the Life of the Warrior Theme Icon
...he does. On the whole, Ned thinks that the drill instructors’ insults are easier for Navajo recruits to handle than for white recruits. After all, “we were used to having white... (full context)
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...in the sun, carrying heavy loads, and doing calisthenics are fairly standard activities for the Navajos. They are much harder for most of the white recruits from other platoons. Even marching... (full context)
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But Ned, like most of the other Navajos, does not know how to swim. The drill instructor blindfolds the men and pushes them... (full context)
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Unlike the white recruits, the Navajo recruits—survivors of poor rations in boarding school—think the food in boot camp is good, and... (full context)
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...fact, that “in many of the most important ways, white men are no different from Navajos.” And what’s more, all people can learn from each other. (full context)
Chapter 11: Code School
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Ned’s 297th platoon, all Navajo, graduates from boot camp with the highest honors. He doesn’t know what will happen next,... (full context)
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However, Ned was wrong that he was ready for anything. The day after graduation, the Navajo platoon is told that they’re shipping out. It seems like a cruel joke at first—the... (full context)
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...is locked behind them. Then they are shocked to hear a voice addressing them in Navajo. In front of the classroom are two Navajo marines, Johnny Manuelito and another man named... (full context)
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Johnny Manuelito passes out pencils and paper and begins saying words in Navajo. The recruits have to write down those same words in English. Johnny runs through 16... (full context)
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...Japanese were prepared, sending people to the United States to study American Indian languages. But Navajo is so difficult—it can only be mastered by those who’ve spoken it all their lives—that... (full context)
Chapter 12: Learning the Code
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...itself is straightforward. The code talkers have to learn a new alphabet in which a Navajo word is assigned to each English letter (from “ant” to “zinc”). Ned’s class also adds... (full context)
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...these are peaceful weeks for Ned. After years of being forced to try to forget Navajo, things have reversed dramatically. The recruits are even encouraged to speak Navajo with each other... (full context)
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Ned explains to his grandchildren that the Navajo recruits were not “proud” in the sense of becoming self-important. They remained quiet and humble,... (full context)
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At the end of code school, the Navajos decide to hold a special dance to honor their Camp Elliott instructors and to entertain... (full context)
Chapter 13: Shipping Out to Hawaii
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...dragged on, with the Japanese proving tougher than expected. Some of the original group of Navajo code talkers are now in Hawaii, recuperating from combat in the Gilbert Islands. Ned is... (full context)
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...eventually encountering Japanese soldiers. As a child, he’d always been warned to avoid deep water. Navajo stories associate water with danger, even monsters. The morning he ships out, he prays with... (full context)
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...out to be calm and peaceful. The signalmen are kept busy practicing their code. The Navajo signalmen are sent into the field as teams of two. In each team, one is... (full context)
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When they reach Hawaii, the code talkers gather with those from the original all-Navajo platoon in order to be briefed on changes in their code—something that recurs over the... (full context)
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...explain that when they sent their first message, other American radio operators, having never heard Navajo before, thought that the Japanese had gotten onto their radio frequency. From then on, they... (full context)
Chapter 14: The Enemies
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...rifles, but they saw no soldiers. There were many Japanese corpses, however. Ned explains that Navajo tradition encourages people to avoid dead bodies, for fear of bad spirits. Although it was... (full context)
Chapter 15: Field Maneuvers
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...way of refilling their canteens in the desert, he says. Ned and the three other Navajos look at each other. They’ve all noticed the prickly pear cactuses growing here. (full context)
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...out, it grows hot. The other marines can’t help drinking from their canteens, but the Navajos don’t. Whenever Stormy isn’t looking, Ned and his friends cut off a piece of prickly... (full context)
Chapter 17: First Landing
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...14,000 marines and their equipment ashore, setting up a command post at Cape Torokina. The Navajo net of code talkers begins sending messages. By the end of the day, some Solomon... (full context)
Chapter 19: Do You Have a Navajo?
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...encountered in the field. By now, the code has almost doubled in size. And the Navajos have more than proven their value. Though some commanders didn’t trust the Navajos at first,... (full context)
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...fake message from the Japanese. Finally, the artillery sends a message: “Do you have a Navajo?” Ned is hurriedly summoned, and his message stops the shelling. After that incident, nobody questions... (full context)
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...Their comments delight Ned. He grew up hearing only negative things from white people about Navajos people’s capabilities. Now, the commanding general of the Sixth Marine Division writes that the Navajos... (full context)
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...Hawaii feels unreal to Ned. He should be feeling happy and relaxed among his fellow Navajo code talkers, but instead he’s “ill at ease,” worrying about his friends, like Georgia Boy... (full context)
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...on terrible things that have happened. These memories and fears drive many marines, including some Navajos, to drink—even after the war. This confirms Ned’s belief that war is never good. It... (full context)
Chapter 21: Guam
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...does. Ned’s heart breaks over their stories of the occupation, which remind him of the Navajo Long Walk. Before long, the Navajos are bringing Chamorros into the marines’ chow lines, and... (full context)
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...the graves registration people to collect later. Weeks later, on Guadalcanal, Ned, Wilsie, and other Navajos are stunned when a healthy Charlie Begay is dropped off at their tent. Charlie explains... (full context)
Chapter 22: Fatigue
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...combat themselves. Sufferers from battle fatigue were sometimes accused of cowardice. But Ned says that Navajos understand battle fatigue because their ancestors saw what war does to people’s spirits. The old... (full context)
Chapter 23: Pavavu
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...are a total of 400 code talkers, but there are also at least 100 other Navajo marines. Most of those Ned meets on Pavavu are in scout companies. They are from... (full context)
Chapter 25: In Sight of Suribachi
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...464 ships is sent against Iwo Jima. There are four command ships, each with a Navajo code talking team. False messages are sent via Morse code to trick Japanese monitors, but... (full context)
Chapter 26: The Black Beach
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Johnny Manuelito is manning the Navajo net on one of the command ships. Later, he tells Ned what the beach landing... (full context)
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However, Ned also has calming memories from Iwo Jima. He remembers hearing strong Navajo voices over the din of shells, shrapnel, and bullets. The Navajo web never breaks, holding... (full context)
Chapter 28: The Bomb
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...his voice before. The code talkers are among the first to learn this news. The Navajo marines are overjoyed, dancing down the road with some of the bandsmen’s drums. The other... (full context)
Chapter 29: Going Home
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...the G.I. bill to go to college and become a teacher. He wants to teach Navajo language, history, and culture to children so that they will never forget it. (full context)
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...grandchildren is not just his story—it’s a story of his people and their strength as Navajos. He prays that none of his grandchildren will ever have to go into battle. But... (full context)