Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir By One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII

Code Talker provides a firsthand account of one of World War II’s most successful military intelligence programs; simultaneously, it documents a pivotal period in Navajo and Native American history. Nez’s story is grounded in the broader context of World War II’s Pacific theater and the complex history of Native American military service to the United States.

The United States entered World War II following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Soon, the military struggled with a critical vulnerability: communication security. Japanese intelligence had proven remarkably successful at breaking American codes, and this compromised military operations throughout the Pacific theater. The Japanese ability to intercept and decode American radio transmissions contributed to several early Allied defeats, creating an urgent need for a more secure communication system.

Traditional military codes of the era typically required encoding and decoding messages through complex mathematical substitutions. This was a time-consuming process that could take up to four hours for a single message. In fast-moving island battles, where conditions could change by the minute, such delays could prove fatal. Furthermore, Japanese cryptographers demonstrated expertise in breaking even the most sophisticated mathematical codes.

The concept of using Native American languages for military communication wasn’t entirely new.