1. The Navajo Code Talkers By: Eric Whitmire

2. During WWII, the U.S. Government used a code the Japanese would never decipher - the Navajo Code.

3. The U.S. Marine Corps enlisted four hundred twenty Navajo volunteers who would translate messages into their language.

4. Since the Navajo’s language did not include words such as grenades or dive bombers, the Code Talkers made associations between a Navajo word and each military term.

5. For example, dive bombers acted like chicken hawks, so whenever they were talking about dive bombers they would use the Navajo word for chicken hawk, (gini). Grenades, being about the same size of a potato were called ni-ma-si. Tanks resembled tortoises, (chay-dah- gahi).

6. The Navajo Code Talkers used their language in WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Perhaps, if the Navajos had not risked their lives serving their country, the Allied victory wouldn’t have been so successful.