Death of US Navajo code talker

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Navajo Code Talker passes away - 28th October 2024

A Navajo Code Talker from World War II who has passed away at the remarkable age of 107 was one of only three remaining members of this vital wartime programme. John Kinsel Sr of the Navajo Nation in Arizona, was recruited to the US Marines in 1942, becoming one of 400 Navajo men who played a unique role securing US military communications.

Spoken in the Southwestern USA and only codified in the 1930s, the Navajo language was particularly well-suited for use as a cipher. Beyond existing essentially as a spoken language, its complexity in terms of syntax, tonal qualities and multiple dialects makes it virtually unintelligible without someone having lengthy contact and in-depth knowledge of it.

The son of a missionary, Philip Johnston had been raised speaking the language on the Navajo Reservation and recognised its tactical advantages. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, he proposed to the General of the Amphibious Corp of the Pacific fleet to use Navajo to encode battlefield communications.

In a successful trial, Navajo code talkers took just 20 seconds to encode, transmit, and decode a three-line message in English, much faster than the 30 minutes required by machines. The US Marine Corps then officially enlisted its first 29 Navajo Code Talkers to develop a military cipher.

The code’s development involved assigning Navajo words to 211 key military terms, which saw ‘iron fish’ used to refer to submarines, and fighter planes become ‘hummingbirds’. In order to encode other English words, they were spelled out using a new English phonetic alphabet, where 26 Navajo words were assigned to represent the 26 letters of the alphabet.

Despite being regarded as some of the best code breakers in the world, Japanese codebreakers were never able to decipher the messages sent by the 400 Navajo Code Talkers eventually enlisted. They provided the US military with secure communication during critical operations in the Pacific Theater.

The existence of the Windtalkers, as they were informally known, remained classified until 1968. They gained wider recognition in 1982, when President Reagan declared 14th August Navajo Code Talkers Day.

While only two Navajo Code Talkers now remain, their legacy’s commemorated in a permanent exhibit at the Pentagon, highlighting their significant contribution to military operations.