Code Talker

Ned’s particular interest in Japan and Japanese culture doesn’t end when he turns in the report. He learns that the country has been working to amass a powerful military in hopes of dominating the Pacific region. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Germany has also been building its armed forces and seeking to expand its reach. Eventually Japan and Germany become allies, causing many in America to remember the devastation and hardship of World War One and to wonder if a second global conflict might ensue. Even though the fighting still seems far removed from agrarian Navajo communities, the Tribal Council releases a special resolution in 1940 expressing their allegiance to Americanism as the “First Americans” and pledging loyalty to the US forces in any upcoming conflict. Ned is proud of his community’s statement.

On December 7, 1941, 14-year-old Ned is sulking in his room after being punished for speaking Navajo. Another student tells everyone that the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor in a “sneak attack.” Listening to the radio, Ned and the other students learn about the attack and its many casualties. They quickly become aware that “the whole world had changed” (37).

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, more is learned about Japanese forces overtaking islands in the Pacific. What people hoped would be a short conflict turns into a much longer one. Many in the Navajo community are eager to enlist in the US military. To their dismay and embarrassment, they are generally turned away. They are advised that their English isn’t good enough. The very few who are accepted into the military are those who went through the mission school system.

In the spring of 1942, news reaches the reservation that a Marine recruiter is coming to Fort Defiance—a place not far from Ned’s high school—to enlist soldiers who are fluent in both English and Navajo. Ned and a couple schoolmates go to Fort Defiance to lay eyes on the recruiter and are taken by his serious bearing, his pressed uniform, and all the weapons and photos mounted on the walls of his office. Ned and his friends are especially impressed by the uniforms worn by the Marines in the pictures. Later in the day, the soldier, First Sergeant Frank Shinn, gives a rousing speech to encourage enlistees. Though only 15, Ned is ready to enlist right then. Because he was born on the reservation, he doesn’t have a birth certificate to indicate his true age, a loophole that he hopes will allow him to enlist. But when he consults his parents, they urge him to wait, saying he’s still too young to join. They say that if the war is still being fought in a year, he can enlist then.

The first all-Navajo platoon of 29 men is eventually formed without Ned. At the time of recruitment, the unique role for which they’re selected is referred to as “special duty.” The recruited Navajos aren’t given any initial information about what that duty will entail. After the recruits leave for training, no one hears anything from them for months, and their families become worried and restless. When those families seek out answers from the Marines, they are given none. They’re only told that their sons are doing well and are on special duty.

Four months after the first platoon leaves, one of its members, Johnny Manuelito—now Corporal Johnny Manuelito—returns to Fort Defiance. He and another of his group, John Benally, are not shipped overseas but assigned to remain in the US as instructors for Navajos who have enlisted. Manuelito was considered a good student when he left, but the Navajo community notes that he has become more serious and striking since joining the Marines. Listening to the Marine address a room of school officials and potential recruits, Ned states that Manuelito “carried himself with such self-assurance and pride that even those big bilagaanaas were impressed” (48). Manuelito tells the listeners that Navajos, who have handled weapons and weathered hardship in their lives, fare well in boot camp compared to their white counterparts. Ned is galvanized and makes up his mind to join the Marines.