Secret code talker dies - 28th October 2024

John Kinsel Sr spoke a secret code. He died last weekend. The code comes from the Navajo language. Only Kinsel and 400 other Navajo men knew the code. The Navajo Code Talkers helped to win World War Two.

Navajo is a Native American language. It is very difficult to understand. It isn’t usually written down.

The idea for the code came from Philip Johnston. He grew up with Navajo people. In 1942, he took his idea to the US military. They liked the idea. The code was good for secret messages.

29 Navajo men joined the military. They made the first Navajo code. Some military words got names in Navajo. They used other Navajo words as a spelling code.

Their messages made no sense. But the Code Talkers could understand them very fast. Japanese soldiers never understood the messages.

No one knew about Navajo Code Talkers until 1968. Only two of these men are still alive.