Kyle Ludwig Mr. Dittmar American History Third Quarter Book Report 6 March 2015 The novel Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac is an amazing story of a young Navajo man that joined the cause to fight in World War II as a Navajo code talker. It presents not only the struggles, challenges and hardships that many soldiers endured but those same struggles, and more, that the Code Talkers fought through. It takes place mid World War II and wraps up with the Japanese surrender ending the long fought war. The book touches on each one of the main stepping stones leading to the final battles against the Japanese at Iwo Jima. World War II was fought from 1939 all the way through 1945 in both Europe and Asia. The war began in Europe with the invasion of Poland …show more content…
They were referred to as The Code Talkers. America was having problems with the Japanese interfering with their radio transmissions and they were intercepting our messages, translating them, and then they knew our whole plan. Philip Johnston came up with the idea to use the native Navajo language to send messages across the radios. Very few non indians knew the language making it perfect for sharing secret messages. He then went through additional training in the art of code talking. They learned the shorthand and were trained in how to operate the radios and quickly and efficiently send messages to one another. They wasted no time getting out in the field. They were trained on the beaches of Hawaii because it resembled the beaches of Guam, Bougainville and many other future targets. However, the sand on Hawaii’s beaches was packed down and low which was much different than the sand in enemy territory. When they landed on the beaches of Bougainville and Guam, it was impossible to move, return fire or set up any camp. The Japanese had dug in hard and rained ammo on the Americans steadily all night. The only thing they could do was dig shallow fox holes in the sand and pray they did not get …show more content…
When they approached the island they found a wall of sand where the tide had washed much of it away. None of the tanks or alligator vehicles could climb it and they soon were bogged down up to their undercarriages in sand. The Marines neared the island expecting to find nothing but destruction. However, they found something far worse. The Japanese soldiers had built shelters and bunkers and were waiting for the Americans to enter the sand and work their way in. Each Marine had a surprise when the Japanese opened fire and, having no support from their own marooned tanks and other support vehicles, the Americans could do nothing but dig down and wait out the storm. When the firing finally stopped and many Americans were dead, the remaining warriors fought hard and pushed the enemy back. The only Japanese remaining on the woodline were a few snipers. One of which caught Ned in his crosshairs. He was hit in the left shoulder but had a clear pass through wound with minimal damage. He made a quick recovery and was sent to San Francisco nearing the end of the war to translate more Navajo messages from the last battles of the war. Once the war ended, he returned home where he became a school teacher. He taught the youth the importance of the sacred Navajo
3) Japanese strategy was for each Soldier to kill 10 Americans before they themselves are killed (The Battle – Japan’s Iwo Jima Strategy, n.d.). On top of that, Iwo Jima would have to be reinforced significantly if it were going to be held for any length of time, and preparations were made to send sizable numbers of men and quantities of materiel to that island.
The taking of the island of Iwo Jima was one of the most difficult and costly campaigns for the U.S. during World War II. After the battle was over, the decision to take the island was heavily scrutinized by the public, military officials, and members of the press. Many people felt that the island’s advantages were not worth the blood that was shed taking it. There are a select few historians who believe that this campaign was not intended to be a strategic advantage against Japan but that it was a competition between the different branches of the armed forces. Historian Robert Burrell feels that this island was used as a testing ground for the various branches of the armed forces and as a test for new war tactics. Although the taking of the
Native American code transmission began in World War I, with the Choctaw Indians (Meadows, “Honoring”). “Because the Native languages were not based on European languages or
Who knew that such a small island could lead to the loss of so many? Approximately 70,000 Americans against 22,000 Japanese, the outcome was already known. The Battle of Iwo Jima was expected to last about 5 days according to “American intelligence”. It quickly escalated from February 16 until March 26 when the island was successfully captured by the Americans and victory was presented in the raising of the American flag. Every inch of Iwo Jima was known as a battleground and was also the only Marine battle where American casualties exceeded those of the Japanese. Although, a significant difference in soldiers was present, the Japanese put up a hard battle. (Cyril J. O’Brien, Military.com)
Gowrie, Iowa native, Orval Hasty needed money to attend college, so he joined the marines in 1940, he ended up earning this money after the war. He got assigned at Ford Island to guard In February 1941. Around the 450 acre island there were other vessels and battleships. Orval said, "It was good duty. The climate was nice, we weren 't overworked and it was fun," with regard to the Naval Air Station Ford Island. When not at work Orval attended flying lessons, visited shows, and hung out at beaches. Sleeping in on Sunday mornings was normal for Marines and Sailors not on duty. Orval got up early asking his parents about his driver’s license through the mail. Orval didn’t know what was about to happen. No one knew. Before dawn 183 Japanese bomber planes, torpedo planes and fighter planes took flight on their way to Pearl Harbor. Wave two came later.
SSG Rodriguez, Victor ALC 35F3014-021-025 12th PLT, SSG Wilson Navajo Code Talkers During World War I the military utilized American Indian language to have a secure code. This allowed for secure communications while conduction operations throughout Europe. Prior to the onset of World War II Adolph Hitler and the Japanese sent students to the United States to study Indian languages to break the “unbreakable” code; this lead to the development of a new language utilizing the Navajo language. Those who served their country were known as the Code Talkers.
The Japanese had it made. They had all they needed in their caves. You would of thought that the Japanese would have paid a bunch of money to fortify the island but they really did not. The had many of the Empire's most gifted mining engineers to dig tunnels throughout the volcanic mountains. It took them no time to have miles of tunnels running through the mountains. These tunnels made it easy for the Japanese to move from one position to the other. But life was not to great in the caves because the United States Seventh Air Force bombers dropped bombs on them daily in hope to soften them up before the massive invasion. Another helpful aspect to the Japanese was the sand on the beaches. The sand wasn't like in paradise. It was black and loose making running across the beachhead very difficult. The only flaw to the island that did not help the Japanese was the surf. The surf was too rough to plant anti boat mines. "The entire island is flat except for the promontory of Mount Suribachi, and extinct volcano, which is 556 feet high in the southern portion of the island."(Siefring 117)
Brown led the Army’s 7th Division of three regiments of infantry, four battalions of artillery, the 13th Combat Engineer Battalion, and the attachment of the 50th Combat Engineer Battalion.1 Nearly a year before the battle took place, June 3rd, 1942, the Japanese seized Attu with only natives living there. The Japanese reestablished a base on Attu on October 29, 1942 under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Hiroshi Yanekawa.1 The Japanese set up strong defensive positions with antiaircraft and numerous caches of arms, ammunition and food spread across different locations on the island. U.S. forces did not have such advantage and had a difficult time with logistics due to the unforgiving elements. The islands beaches consisted of muskeg which created very difficult circumstances for U.S. vehicles that the engineers were crucial in resolving. Although the harsh climate and terrain caused many problems for both sides, it was more impactful against the Japanese due to the long period of acclimation they endured.2
National security of every country highly depends on secrecy maintainance, especially during wartime. Secrecy is an important element of victory. However, it is important not only to code messages but also to break enemy codes in order to gain military advantages. During the Second World War it was very important for the United States to send and receive codes without any risk of being deciphered. For this reason the language of American indigenous population of the Navajo was chosen by the U.S. Marine Corps. This paper focuses on contributions made by the Navajo Code Talkers during the Second World War. The military enemies of the United States did not manage to break the code. One of the reasons why the Navajo
There are only forty to seventy Navajo Code Talkers still alive. Navajo code talkers used their native language to help win World War II. The book Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac is about a Navajo boy who is separated from his family and hometown and after World War II. The theme language was power was important when Ned was at boarding school and in after war.
The struggle to capture what sometimes amounted to only a few square miles of coral atoll was essential to a grand strategy that had evolved by 1943. Because most American resources were being stockpiled in Europe in anticipation of D-Day, the Pacific had secondary priority. General MacArthur wanted to push from the south through Indonesia to the Philippines, but his campaigns of 1942 in New Guinea and the Solomons were slow. Therefore, it was decided that the major American offensive would strike directly across the Pacific to the Marshall Islands and then to the Marianas, to penetrate the Japanese “Inner Empire.”
Although this idea had been successfully implemented during World War I using the Choctaw Indian's language, history generally credits Philip Johnston for the idea to use Navajos to transmit code
Conditions were perfect, sunshine with a little cloud cover the Americans were expecting strong opposition as soon as they touched down on the beaches but there was little opposition to meet them. Weather considerations were minimum, heavy rain was the only key factor in the battle which made the ground muddy and troop movement and resupply at times could become difficult. Okinawa is 60 miles long and 18 miles wide. The terrain in northern Okinawa is extremely mountainous with elevations of 1,000 feet or more usually with steep cliffs associated with them. With such uneven terrain troop movement in the north was very difficult. With poor road conditions vehicle movement was not much better. The southern part of Okinawa where the main part of the fighting took place had a number of different terrain obstacles. Rolling hills, with the majority of this half under cultivation and contained three fourths of the population of the island. The terrain gave the Japanese Army a slight advantage with natural caves and burial tombs that they turned into underground positions. There are more roads in the south due to the increased population but still not suitable for military vehicles.
Okinawa had trees that was littered on hills that had a reach of 505 meters high. This was advantage for the Japanese that was above the American troop. Japanese also used coral and limestone to blend in with the environment as a camouflage.They used the island’s natural obstacles and enhanced them , to throw their enemy off
As for the World War II, it began in 1939 till 1945. This war went on for 6 years. The war began in Europe after the attack in Poland, Germany. World War II started because Hitler began to take over Europe and Germany. Adolf Hitler and his partnership with Italy and Japan opposed the Soviet Union. The conflict during World War I was between the Axis powers and the Allied powers. The war ended after Japan had finally surrendered in 1945. Over 60 million people