The Navajo Code Talkers

After the War

The Code Talkers were also sworn to secrecy, they could not talk about what they had done in the war or about the code they had created and spoken. Chester Nez recalled telling people, “They just gave us a rifle, a pistol or a submachine gun and we killed the enemy.” (Lennon). Not being able to tell your friends and family what you did after coming home from the war seems unfair for the Code Talkers. “After I came back home from the war, they told us not to talk about the code.” Chester Nez said many years later (“Chester Nez”). Unfair, and unjust, because they were not able to talk about what they had done in the war, coming home they had to deal with prejudiced people and criticism.

After coming home from the war, the Native Americans had a hard time finding jobs. The jobs were scarce and getting training for a job or education for a job was hard to do. Racism was also common and still going on, so it made it even harder for them to find jobs. Even eating and drinking in certain places was not possible for Natives. They did not even get to vote in national or state elections, and although there was the Indian Citizen Act of 1924 that granted full United States citizenship to the Native Americans, some states still refused to let them vote. It was not until 1948 in New Mexico and Arizona, and 1957 in Utah, were they allowed to vote. Many Natives stayed in their home communities, farming and fishing, ranching, and doing whatever work that they could find. Others were forced to move to different larger urban areas where work was easier to get. Some Natives worked to help preserve their languages, artists, educators and professionals in other kinds of fields too (“Protecting”).

In 1982, 40 years after Iwo Jima, President Ronald Reagan declared that August 14th would be the National Navajo Code Talker’s Day. It is still not seen anywhere on any calendar and many people still do not know about the Navajo Code Talkers and what they have done for their country. What can we do about it? We can educate people about the Navajo Code Talkers, and all of the other Code Talkers out there too. Education should include what they did for us. Celebrating the National Navajo Code Talkers Day should become a new tradition for generations to come: Celebrate August 14th in honor of them (“Honor”).

On July 26, 2001, four Native American men, of the original 29 Code Talkers

Were awarded the highest civilian award US Congress can bestow, putting them on a level with previous distinguished recipients such as George Washington, Jesse Owens and Robert Kennedy. President Bush told a packed audience in the Capitol building that the four Navajo inspired the ‘respect and admiration of all Americans’, and that the nation's gratitude was expressed "for all time" in the medals he was about to give them (Lennon).

To be awarded “the highest civilian award that the U.S. Congress can bestow” is a very huge deal, especially with the past history between the United States and the Native Americans.

After many years of being a secret, however, and after 1982 and President Bush, their history was still not acknowledged. “Yet in all this nationwide honoring of the Navajo, there is a notable absence of any mention of just how despised this invaluable language was before May 1942” Lennon wrote in 2002. Sixty years after the Navajo went into battle, recognition of the “heroic front-line Native Americans” swept the U.S. (Lennon). It took sixty years for them to be recognized but still, they are not talked about in schools when children learn about WWII and not everyone knows who they are, what they did or about the National Navajo Code Talkers Day.

In many Native American cultures and tribes, they believe that after going to war it affects the soldier’s well-being and makes it difficult for him to return and live his everyday life, upsetting the balance. In order to bring their lives back into balance the tribes do a special tribal ceremony to make it easy for the soldiers once again to live their lives in peace, and be spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy. Not only do the tribe’s ceremonies make it easier for them, but many of the soldiers are Christian, so going to church praying, and going to services helped them during their healing processes as well. However, in the Navajo way, they have a different way of bringing their soldiers home (“Protecting”).

When a Navajo soldier returns from war his family will decide if they can sponsor a ceremony for him, then they will contact a medicine man, or spiritual leader, and the medicine man will then talk to the soldier and then from that decide what kind of ceremony would be the best for the soldier. According to the Navajo Code Talker John Brown Jr., when he had returned from the war they had a Squaw dance (also known as the Enemy Way Ceremony) for him, and all of the bad images of the rotting Japanese, the smell of the dead people, and the blood, had all gone away (“Protecting”). He said, “And I imagine they killed that evil spirit that was in my mind. That’s what it’s about. There’s a lot of stories there. It takes a long time to talk about it. It usually takes a medicine man to explain everything properly. But it works” (“Protecting”).

Native Americans always honor and respect their veterans. They celebrate and honor them with dances and songs, and many people will go to the veterans because they believe that the veterans will give out good advice because of what they had to endure in the war and strong mental abilities and many experiences. Depending on the community, the veterans are celebrated a bit differently. For example, at powwows the veterans will carry their tribe’s flags, the American flag, an Indian Eagle staff, and other important banners as well, leading in the powwow dancers. This is only one of the lasting traditions to show respect to the veterans and what they have done for their people (“Protecting”).