Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two, Written by Joseph Bruchac

Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two

Written by Joseph Bruchac

During WWII the people of the Navajo Nation wanted to serve their country. Then the military finds a unique opportunity to use their heritage. The Navajo are asked to use their language, a language they were told that was inferior and useless. When they were young they use to speak the language in secret so the language would not die out. The Army uses them in groups of two to send messages across the lines. The enemy can not decode the language because it is only known to the Navajo. Ned Begay is one soldier that is on the team. Ned and his Navajo team soon learn the respect of their superiors for their stamina. It is because of the Code Talkers, as they are called, that the war is turned. When the war is over the people of the United States no nothing of the Navajo Code Talkers. The military wants to keep them classified in case they need them in the future. Many years later they decide to declassify the Code Talkers. Ned and his colleagues are able to tell everyone about their experiences. Navajos can be just as good, just as important, and even more so, than their non-Indian colleagues, and that they are able to be so important because they have kept the language and background that the reservation schools tried to take away. If they would have taken it away it would have been a different WWII.