Navajo Code Talkers
Discover the history of the Navajo Code Talkers and the impact their contribution made to World War 2.
“Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima”
Maj. Howard Connor, Iwo Jima, 1945.
The tradition of military service spans multiple generations in Gallup, with citizens serving in every American conflict for more than a century. The community’s connection with WW2 is particularly poignant, because the 29 Navajo Code Talkers who participated in the pilot program trained at Fort Wingate, deploying overseas from the Gallup railroad depot.
“We acted as coding machines, transmitting messages that would have taken a couple of hours in just a couple of minutes. We could never make a mistake, because many communications involved bombing coordinates.”
Chester Nez, Navajo Code Talker (one of the 29 men in the pilot program)
Navajo Code Talkers
Philip Johnston, the son of a missionary who grew up on the Navajo Nation, came up with the idea in 1942 after reading an article about soldiers delivering messages using native languages. Johnston knew that the U.S. military was having issues developing a secure code for military communications. He approached the Marine Corps with his idea, launching the program in 1942 with 29 Marine recruits from the Navajo Nation.
The recruits worked with Marine communication teams to develop a complex code with more than 211 words. During the testing phase, they were stunned by how quickly the Navajo Marines could transmit, receive, and decode messages. None of the other codes being used at that time were as accurate or as fast. Based on the initial success of the program, the Marines expanded the program, adding an additional 200 Navajo recruits. By the end of WW2, approximately 400 Navajo soldiers served as Code Talkers.
Courage Under Fire
Although other Native American languages were used to create codes in WW1, WW2, and other military conflicts, the Navajo code was the most successful. Despite using the code to transmit thousands of messages during WW2, neither the Japanese nor the Germans managed to crack the code. For example, over 800 encrypted messages were sent by a team of six code talkers during the battle for Iwo Jima. Nothing was written down. Messages were coded and transmitted orally, with the Navajo Marines coding and/or deciphering each line in real-time, often on the front lines while under fire.
Highly Classified Contribution
The government classified the work of the Navajo Code Talkers after World War II in case they needed the code for future conflicts. However, the program was declassified in 1968, with the Code Talkers eventually receiving national recognition for their courageous, and crucial, contribution during the war.
Gallup Cultural Center
The Southwest Indian Foundation opened the Gallup Cultural Center in 1996 to educate the public about the rich heritage and history of the Four Corners region. Located on the 2nd-floor of the historic Santa Fe Railroad Depot on Route 66, the station was renovated to look like the 1918 El Navajo Hotel, a Harvey Hotel built at this location in the 1930s. The original property was demolished in the 1950s.
Open Monday-Friday from 10 AM - 4 PM, the Cultural Center houses the City of Gallup Visitor Center, the Storyteller Museum, the Master’s Gallery, a gift shop and Angela’s Café. The museum features cultural and historic exhibits about the Gallup area; including the history of the railroad, Route 66, and the Navajo Code Talkers. The Navajo Code Talkers exhibit at the Gallup Cultural Center pays tribute to the contributions of Native American troops during World War II, with an impressive collection of memorabilia. The museum also houses an impressive collection of Native American art.
Gallup Cultural Center
201 E Hwy 66
Gallup, NM 87301
(505) 728-8048
For more information, the Gallup Visitor Center provides brochures about things to see and do locally and in the Four Corners region.
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