During World War I, the Native American tribal language was used to send messages between deployed troops. The U.S. military learned the Native American language to provide a secure mode of communication between troops in the field. During World War II, the native Indian language chosen was the language of the Navajo tribe. Also during the war, a different Native American language was used to send messages between military troops and American leaders. Due to the complexity of the language and the fact that the language was taught to the next generation orally, not in writing, the military was able to translate messages between troops. This research paper will explain how Navajo Code Talking came to be, why the Navajo enlisted, the wartime experience of the Navajo Indians, the contribution of code talkers, the assimilation of Native Americans into white American society, and the acknowledgement. Navajo Soldiers Code Talkers. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay The Navajo language is a complex language; it is similar to East Asian languages ​​which are tonal. “Tonal means that the same word has another meaning based on tone.” For example, the word "really" these days has two meanings when you use it in a sentence, such as "the article was really informative for my research paper." Or using modern English slang, the one-word answer "really" can be used as a question. Tonal languages ​​are extremely difficult for adults to learn since tone defines meaning. White Americans had difficulty communicating with members of the Navajo tribe. Missionaries and their families continually learned the language to witness Christianity to tribal members and to live within their community. The creation of the Navajo Code Talkers program has been credited to Philip Johnston. According to Zachary Spalding, author of "Experiences of the Navajo Code Talkers in World War II," a publication, written by collecting the stories of Navajo Code Talkers or a member of their immediate family, which is a compilation of personal experiences of the military. It provides a historical picture of how the Code Talker program began. “Philip Johnston had the idea of ​​using the Navajo language instead of the military code system. “As a young child, Johnston and his family were missionaries on the Navajo reservation. During his meetings with tribal members on the reservation, he learned the Navajo language. While working at the Bureau of Engineering in Los Angles, he came up with the idea. The idea was presented to the Navy and Marine Corps branches of the Army. According to Adam Jevec, Philip Johnston explained in detail his general knowledge of the Navajo language that he learned while living on the Navajo reservation as a child. He explained that the Navajo language remained largely “unwritten.” “Major James Jones, of the military branch of the Marine Corps” was interested in the idea. Philip Johnston brought together a group of Navajos to learn and demonstrate their ability to translate messages. “The Navajo people were given six messages to decode,” the translation demonstration was a great success and the project was approved. Johnston and Native Americans from the Navajo tribe created the code for the program. The first part of the code contained twenty-six terms. Due to the complexity of Navajo messages and language, during the war the coded alphabet expanded from twenty-six to forty-four terms. The terms were used in two options,either they represented a word or they represented a letter of the English alphabet. The Navajo Code Talkers had a positive effect on World War II since, according to Spaulding, "Germany had no knowledge of the Navajo language." Before the war, German anthropologists traveled to the United States and studied the culture and language of the Native American tribe. Fortunately for the United States, the anthropologist did not study the Navajo language. Since the Germans and Japanese did not know the Navajo language, the program to decipher Navajo speakers had a profoundly positive effect on United States success in the war. According to Spalding, "Navajo speakers served in the military for many years." reasons. » First, they could speak their native language without fear of punishment or reprisal. Many Native Americans abandoned their native language due to the cruel punishments schoolchildren suffered while attending the public school system. Child abuse has had a negative effect on the Navajo people's freedom to speak their native language. The ability to speak one's native language while supporting one's nation during war can give the soldier a dual purpose: serving in the military and fighting for one's country. . Second, their strong loyalty to the land motivated them to serve in the war. Native Americans generally took pride in their land, even though many Native Americans were forced off their land, they still took pride in fighting for their land. Many Navajos served to gain access to the military benefits they would receive as members of the military. Service members were able to access advanced higher education options upon their return from war. This was an attractive advantage since reservation residents faced limited access to higher education opportunities and limited financial resources. According to Nathan Aaseng, the Navajo Marines had to gain the trust of white American soldiers in their military troops. Navajo soldiers were targets of discrimination and ridicule from white soldiers. During World War II, American Indians were not completely assimilated into white American society. White soldiers were therefore wary of Native American soldiers. White soldiers thought Native American soldiers looked like Japanese people. Because of their skin color and lack of facial hair, white soldiers put these two races in the same category. At one point, some soldiers heard the Navajo Code Talkers speaking in the Navajo language message code and assumed that the Japanese had defeated the Marines and taken control of American radios. All soldiers fighting in World War II were afraid of dying, which was amplified for Navajo soldiers, who were targeted by two groups of people during the war. The first is considered the enemy, the Japanese and German soldiers, and the other, the American soldiers who fought side by side. The added pressure placed on Navajo soldiers must have had a tremendous negative impact during the war on them, physically and emotionally. There were two different enemies towards the Native American soldiers, they had to be on alert for most of their time during the war. The experiences of Navajo code talkers during the war are described by Zachary Spalding and Nathan Aaseng. Navajo soldiers were under considerable stress. Of course, all soldiers had a constant fear of death, Navajo soldiers, especially code-speaking ones, had an added fear of being captured and tortured by.