Navajo Code Talkers.
Who were they? They were young Navajo men that came from all parts social classes. Their job was to transmit secret communications on the battlefields of World War 2. They were Sheep herders, as well as farmers. Here are some names of some distinguished code talkers in WW2. Kieth Little, Teddy Drapper Sr. Bill Toledo, and Samuel Iso. One thing that all these men had in common was that they did not realize that what they were doing saved tons of lives during the war. To find out more information about them, there is more on them on source number one. As you can see that it did not matter who they were as long as they could understand their language. Unfortunately Understanding the language was not enough to break the Navajo code.
Here is some background information on the code. It is the only unbroken code in military history. Among all the brilliant people that were involved in the war, and that were enemies of the United States, no one was able to break the code. It was even indecipherable to a Navajo Solider that could fluently and that could speak the language perfectly. A Navajo Solider could be captured, and tortured, and they would not be able to crack the code themselves.
How did it work? Well they obviously used the Navajo language, common sense, and I would say metaphors. They used the word turtle to mean tank. They compared it to a tank because a tank, and a tortoise were both slow. They used Chicken hawk to associate it with a dive bomber. A chicken hawk dives for it's prey just like a dive bomber. Iron fish meant submarine, because a submarine travels under the ocean just like a fish. They used our mother for America; which is pretty much common sense.
What made it so unbreakable? They used Navajo words to represent letters in the alphabet. It was based on the first letter on the English language. For example the used the word Ant, and that meant that a letter A was being used. They used other words that were substituted in order to prevent the code from being broken. Other words like Ax, and Apple also were used to represent the letter A.
This was a very smart, but in a way simple code. It was not just the Navajo language. Certain things had to be learned for the code to be used. In my opinion it was brilliant, and it saved tons of lives in WW2.
Navajo Code Talkers source 1 source 2
Japanese interment camps
Why did it happen? On December,7 1941 Pearl harbor was attacked by Japan. Fear spread all over America that another attack would take place. They were afraid that they Japanese living in the United States would rebel. . Their reason was that there was a danger of those of Japanese decent spying for the Japan. The solution was to place all Japanese people in interment camps.
On February, 19 1942 President Roosevelt signed The executive order 9066. It ordered that 120,000 Japanese be placed in interment camps. They were given 48 hours to leave their homes. Sadly in some cases some were separated from their families. Out of Japanese person that was place in the camps two thirds of them were kids. They were allowed only to bring a few processions. This was unfortunate because they had to leave everything behind or sell it. Fortune hunters thrived on this. They bought things from the Japanese really cheap. Far less then they were actually worth.
Life was not the best inside the camps. They were placed in a deserted area, with extreme heat. Some died because of the lack of medical care. They were guarded by soldiers that were watching their every move. In a place like this it is impossible to stay there and smile. Those were that were considered troublesome were sent to Tole Lake Facility were other people would take care of them. Once they reached the age of 17 they had to take a loyalty oath. People who refused to take the loyalty oath were also sent to Tole Lake Facility. Only two questions were asked.
1) Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty where ever ordered?
2) Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States form any or all attacks by foreign or domestic forces and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor and to any other foreign government.
On December 1944 The public proclamation number 21 which become effective on January 1943 allowed All Japanese people to return to their homes. Some thought it was just like a concentration camps, and returned to Japan. Others were more forgiving and stayed in America. There was 10 people found guilty of spying, and according to my source they were all Caucasian.
In my opinion this was something terrible that they thought had to be done. To them it was common sense to have the Japanese away from the others to avoid another attack. It did bring a lot of racism to the Japanese unfortunately. Maybe the reason that all the spies were Caucasian was because all the Japanese were put away in the camps. It was unfair, and It cant do anything but just feel sorry for them.
Comments
Good job Cesar!