Navajo Code Talker Chester Nez waits backstage for a speaking engagement Nov. 1, 2012, at the Henderson Fine Arts Center at San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico. Nez, the last of the 29 ...

President Donald Trump meets with Navajo Code Talkers, Fleming Begaye Sr., seated and Thomas Begay, center, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Nov. 27, 2017. Credit: AP/Susan Walsh ...

The U.S. Marine Corps initially recruited 29 Navajo men to develop a code based on the unwritten Navajo language in World War II. Using Navajo words for red soil, war chief, clan, braided hair, beads, ...

Native American News Pentagon restores histories of Navajo Code Talkers, other Native veterans after public outcry Published: Mar. 21, 2025, 3:42 p.m.

The code stumped Japanese military cryptologists. The Code Talkers participated in all assaults the Marines led in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945 and are credited with helping the U.S. win the war.

FILE - WWII veteran and Navajo Code Talker Peter MacDonald Sr. is photographed at his home on the Navajo reservation in Tuba City, Ariz., April 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) ...