Code Talkers Honoring Native American Heritage
January 23, 2025
The Leatherby Libraries curated a display exploring the rich history of Native American Code Talkers. During both World Wars, Native American soldiers utilized their indigenous languages as a code to communicate with one another.
According to the National WW2 Museum, there were soldiers from at least 15 Native American tribes who utilized their unique tribal languages as code to communicate secret messages. Soldiers from different tribes, including the Navajo, Osage, Cherokee, Choctaw, and many others, would set and relay coded messages to other Native American soldiers to explain military strategies. Their role was significant in the America’s success in these wars as their codes were the only ones never solved by enemy forces.
Approximately 534 Native American code talkers were soldiers in the Second World War. Included in this group were code talkers from the Navajo Nation who created a code using the Navajo language and communicated thousands of messages. Throughout their messages, the enemy forces never solved the code.
The Secret War, The Inside Story of The Code Makers and Code Breakers of World War 2 by Michael Paterson is included in this display and tells the firsthand account stories of the unknown men who played crucial roles in the victory of the allied forces. With the help of archival-sourced materials, Paterson shares the stories of Navajo Indian signalers who were vital to the victory in the Pacific.
Another selection included in this display, The Language of Victory: American Indian Code Talkers of World War I and World War II by Gary Robinson, features rare interviews with Comanche, Choctaw, and Navajo code talkers. This non-fiction book recounts how American Indian soldiers from twenty different tribes used their native languages to send coded military messages in two world wars that were never deciphered by the enemy and helped secure numerous American victories.
You can view the books selected for this display through its digital bibliography here. This display was curated by Leatherby Libraries student employees Arianna Tillman ’25 and Isabella Piechota ’25.
* During the Academic Year 2024-2025, Leatherby Libraries proudly celebrates 20 years of supporting the academic experience at Chapman University.
Note: The terms Native American and American Indian used in this blog are used interchangeably to refer to the Indigenous peoples of North American and the many tribes represented as code talkers.