The Navajo Code Talkers
During World War II, the United States needed a way to send secret messages that the enemy could not break. The answer was the Navajo language. In 1942, the first 29 Navajo Marines finished training and created a code based on Diné bizaad, the Navajo language. Hundreds of Navajo Code Talkers went on to serve in the Pacific.
The code was never broken. After the Battle of Iwo Jima, Major Howard Connor said, “Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima.”
Many Code Talkers had attended boarding schools where they were punished for speaking Navajo. The language they had been told to give up helped win the war.
How the Code Worked
The code had two parts.
- Code words. Military words that did not exist in Navajo got new names. A submarine was an “iron fish.” Try matching the code names below.
- A spelling alphabet. For other words, each English letter was replaced by a Navajo word. A was wol-la-chee, the Navajo word for “ant.” Common letters, like E and T, had more than one code word, so enemy code breakers could not spot a pattern.
Match the Code Words
Drag each code name to the military word it stood for, or tap a code name and then tap its match.
Code Name (Navajo)
Military Word
Decode a Secret Message
Each Navajo word stands for one letter. Find it in the code chart and type the letter in the box.
Code Chart
Spellings are from the Navy’s Navajo Code Talkers’ Dictionary (revised June 15, 1945, later declassified).
Send Your Own Message
Type a short message or your name. The page turns it into Navajo code words. Give the code to a partner to decode with the chart.
Think About It
- Why do you think “iron fish” was a good code name for a submarine? Choose another code name and explain it.
- Why did common letters like E and T need more than one code word?
- Many Code Talkers had been punished for speaking Navajo in school. How do you think they felt when their language helped win the war?