As the United States entered WWII in 1941, the Japanese had broken U.S. diplomatic and military codes, leaving no secure means of communication in the pacific. On May 4th, 1942 the Marine Corps recruited a platoon of 30 Navajos to develop and test the feasibility a code using the Navajo Language. This group would go through Marine Recruit training at Camp Pendleton as platoon 382 - the first “All-Indian, All-Navajo” platoon.

The “First Twenty Nine” developed a code of approximately 200 terms using the Navajo language. By the war’s end the code had grown to about 700 terms and 400+ Navajos had been recruited and trained as Code Talkers (MOS 642).

The Navajo Code remained classified until 1968 and is still the only military verbal code never to be broken.

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This is a show meant to tell the story of the Code Talkers, not to tell the war stories,…