Native Americans in Military Service
Native Americans served in the military as early as the 19th century, informally during the days of westward expansion, and formally in the Civil War as Indian Scouts of the U.S. Army. Notably, Native Americans served as Code Talkers in World War II. The U.S. Marine Corps revived the program from World War I, and hundreds of Native Americans were recruited. They encoded and transmitted messages using their native languages, ultimately ensuring the U.S. victory in the Battle of Iwo Jima. These Veterans were later recognized with Congressional medals and various monuments. There are 33 Code Talkers buried at national cemeteries.
19th Century
During U.S. westward expansion in the 19th century, most wars pitted Native American tribes against one another and the Army. General George Crook recruited for scouts among the Apache to help fight warring members of their tribe, first led by Cochise and later Geronimo. The Army captured and imprisoned Geronimo and his second wife Ga-ah in 1886. Although Native Americans were not identified as U.S. citizens until 1924, Ga-ah was buried at Barrancas National Cemetery, FL in 1887.
An estimated 20,000 tribesmen served alongside enlisted men and officers during the Civil War. In August 1866, Congress first authorized Indian Scouts as enlisted personnel in the U.S. Army, and they existed until 1947 when the Armed Services officially ended racial segregation. Native Americans have served in every U.S. conflict since.
Council between General Crook and Geronimo in 1886. (Photograph by C.S. Fly, Library of Congress)WWII Code Talkers
Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, brought the United States into World War II. The U.S. Army quickly revived a World War I program that employed Choctaw and other Native Americans to use native languages for communicating sensitive messages from the battle lines. Veteran Philip Johnston grew up on the Navajo reservation, and he recommended that the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) recruit Navajo men for military communication needs. Johnston arranged for a demonstration in which several Navajos proceeded to send messages in their native tongue.
Development
USMC leaders immediately recruited 29 Navajos to develop a code, or dictionary, of words to transmit strategic dispatches. They matched a Navajo word to each letter of the English alphabet to spell out other words and phrases; the code grew to include hundreds of terms.
The men memorized this complex encoding using oral cultural traditions. Previously, 20th century education activists had sought to replace the native language used by Native American children with English. Fortunately, oral traditions had persisted, allowing the creation and use of this unbreakable code.
A succession of draftees and recruits, more than 400 Navajos and other tribesmen, trained at a new school established to teach the code, as well as radio and wire communications.
Navajo cousins and USMC Code Talkers, Preston and Frank Toledo, sending messages by field radio during World War II. (NARA)Success
At the beginning of World War II, military encoding machines required 30 minutes to code, transmit, and decode a three-line message in English. A Code Talker could complete the same message in roughly 20 seconds. Strategically, the code was very successful. The Japanese never deciphered it and non-Code Talker Navajos did not understand it. To cite just one example of its success, during the first two days of the Battle of Iwo Jima, six Code Talkers correctly transmitted and received more than 800 messages.
Visit the Battle of Iwo Jima remembrance page »
"Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima."
Maj. Howard Connor
5th Marine Division Signal Officer
Recognition
Wartime security concealed the Code Talkers' remarkable contribution until 1968 when military records were declassified. The magnitude of this service gradually became known. In 1992, an exhibit featuring the Code Talkers opened at the Pentagon, and President George W. Bush awarded the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers the Congressional Gold Medal in July 2001. Another 225 Navajo Code Talkers, later recruited into the program, received the Congressional Silver Medal that November. In September 2008, Congress authorized the issuance of additional medals as more Code Talkers from other tribes were identified. These medals were awarded in 2013.
Several monuments recognizing Native American service have been placed in NCA national cemeteries. The Comanche Indian Veterans Association donated the first one to Fort Sill National Cemetery, OK, in 2006. It was followed by a Navajo Code Talkers monument in Santa Fe National Cemetery, NM, in 2013. Two identical Native American Alliance of Ohio monuments were placed in Dayton National Cemetery, OH in 2014, and West Virginia National Cemetery in 2016.
A monument to Native American servicemembers at West Virginia National Cemetery, WV.
A monument to Navajo Code Talkers at Santa Fe National Cemetery, NM.Code Talkers at VA National Cemeteries
There are 33 Code Talkers known to be buried at VA national cemeteries. About half of these Veterans are buried at Santa Fe National Cemetery, NM.
Visit the Native American Veterans remembrance page »
