Navajo Nation seeks D.C. memorial for Code Talkers

During World War II, more than 350 Native Americans served as Code Talkers for the U.S. Marines to transmit messages the enemy couldn’t break. Now the Navajo Nation wants to commemorate their service with a memorial in Washington, D.C. A Navajo Nation Council committee resolution asks the U.S. Congress to provide funding for a Navajo Code Talkers National Monument in the Washington. The resolution also authorizes Navajo Nation officials to speak with federal representatives on the matter. “The Navajo Code Talkers provided an invaluable service to the United States of America and should be honored and recognized in a significant manner in constructing a national monument,” the resolution states. According to the resolution, the U.S. military utilized hundreds of Native American languages for encrypted messages during the First World War. The military continued to test those efforts but found it difficult to employ since there were not many military terms in those languages. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II, the Marines recruited 29 Navajos to serve as Code Talkers. That number grew 353...more