I wrote this story in ca. early 2003 and originally published it in Aviation Review, Vol. 5, No, 6.
On October 5th the editor attended a talk given by Navajo Wilfred Billey at the Mansfield / Richland County Public Library. His son was there to operate the overhead machine for visuals.
Though this is not a specifically avaition topic, it is, I believe, of interest to most who study the era’s history.
During the early part of WWII, a man named Philip Johnson read about how the Japanese were breaking our codes left and right and how this was setting back progress.
Memories from his childhood began to come back to him. He remembered when his parents were missionaries to the Navajos and he played with the Navajo children and learned some of their language.
He brought the idea to the Marines that Navajos could talk in their language and it could be used as a code. After clearing the idea all the way up to the Commandant of the Marine Corps, approval was given and training progressed. A platoon of Navajos – 29 men, in 297 Platoon, were trained in radio equipment. The Marines had several types at the time – a TBY walkie-talkie radio and a TBX radio that required two men to operate but had a range of about 75 miles.
The Navajo language was developed into a code so that not only would the radio operators be talking in a foreign language to Japanese decoders but also a code within their language.
Code talkers served in every Marine offensive in World War II, which was every campaign from 1942 (Guadacanal) – 1945. They – including Mr. Billey – would have participated in the invasion of Japan had the atomic bomb not been dropped. (Mr. Billey feels Truman made the right decision.)
Code was developed for two reasons: A message must come out word-for-word precisely as sent, and the Navajos did not have words in their language for all the different military equipment, such as aircraft carriers, that were used in communications messages.
Communications messages were usually short and to the point – Mr. Billey’s example was “Request artillery fire on Hill 105”.
Mr. Billey was born on the Navajo Reservation. This reservation is chiefly in Arizona, but also extends to New Mexico and Utah. Growing up on the reservation, he was very close to his grandparents, and especially his grandfather. Though they lived a simple life, “we were happy.”
When he first went to school (a boarding school, with no vacations during the school term), he did not know any English. He learned English at this school.
He later went to a Methodist mission school. At this school he was recruited for the Marine Corps’ communications division.
Mr. Billey was sent to Santa Fe for a physical examination – it was his first experience of trains, large cities, and the ocean.
After passing the examination, he was trained in San Diego – first in intense 3-month Basic training, and then the specialized Code Talker training.
Once he graduated and was sent overseas, he participated in the battles of Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa.
In the battle of Tarawa, he was in the second wave of soldiers. They received a call, “Don’t come in. The resistance is very intense”. The next day, they were called in. He never saw so many dead people in his life.
In the battle of Saipan, his friend Levi was killed and he was offered Levi’s position at the Batallion level. He accepted the job and accompanied the commander wherever he went and received and translated orders about the next day’s movements.
After the war, he went to Japan and visited Nagasaki. (Nobody told him about the radiation possibilities.) He then went home.
He told some little-known facts about the Code Talkers. For example, 80% of their messages were sent in English and only 20% in Navajo.
Sometimes, when a Navajo arrived onto a battlefield, his commander didn’t know what to do with him and often the Navajo’s specialized skills were not used.
He also gave his opinion about a recent movie about the Code Talkers, Wind Talkers. He thought the screenplay was “terrible” and that the movie was “based on ridiculous premises”.
“I have a high respect for WWII veterans,” he said. “They were very creative people. Some even became President: Kennedy, Eisenhower… To my eyes, these WWII veterans were very creative people Maybe that’s why Tom Brokaw calls them ‘The Greatest Generation’. I’m glad I belong to the greatest generation.”
A total of 3000 Navajos participated in WWII, of which 400 were code talkers. Sixteen million Americans fought in the war. Of these, 400,000, including 13 code talkers, were killed.
He said, “In my eyes, these are the ultimate heroes. I’m not a hero. Sure, I was a radio man. But these guys that gave their lives are the true heroes.”
He concluded by contrasting the Japanese soldiers and the American soldiers. The Japanese massacred at least 5,000 Koreans during the war; the Americans, when they had won a battle, would give the Japanese some of their own cigarettes and rations.
He ended by saying, “With much pride and satisfaction, at the prime of my life I served in the United States Marine Corps.”