Laboratory sponsors Navajo Code Talkers Day Tuesday

Contact: Steve Sandoval, steves@lanl.gov, (505) 665-9206

Recent News Los Alamos scientist named Asian American Engineer of the Year Los Alamos scientist featured in NASA science update Los Alamos muon detector could thwart nuclear smugglers Wojciech H. Zurek named Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholar Four Los Alamos physicists honored by American Physical Society Los Alamos National Laboratory organizations earn seven out of 13 NNSA Pollution Prevention awards Carter Hydrick returns to the Bradbury Science Museum Feb. 15 Laboratory supports summer science program New NASA IBEX mission to carry Los Alamos instrument Beason takes top threat reduction post at Los Alamos

LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Aug. 3, 2001 -- The Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory is sponsoring Navajo Code Talkers Day Tuesday, Aug. 7 at Fuller Lodge in downtown Los Alamos.

Fourteen Navajo Code Talkers, as they have come to be known, are scheduled to attend Navajo Code Talkers Day. Los Alamos' Community Relations Office is sponsoring the event, which begins at 10 a.m. and is open to the public.

"The Laboratory is pleased to be one of the sponsors of this event, which recognizes the contributions these individuals made to our country," said Albert Jiron of the Community Relations Office. "Nearly 60 years after the Navajo Code Talkers were pressed into action, their story of service to this country is one worth hearing again."

Bill Press, Los Alamos' deputy director of science, technology and programs, is scheduled to make welcoming remarks about 10:40 a.m. after the presentation of colors, a Navajo invocation and the U.S. Marine Corps Hymn, which will be sung in Navajo by Elsie Benally and Christine Benally, the wife and daughter of deceased Navajo Code Talker Harry Benally.

In addition, Jean Whitehorse, a Navajo from Smith Lake, N.M. and the daughter of an original code talker will sing the National Anthem in Navajo.

Los Alamos County Council Chairwoman Sharon Stover also will make welcoming remarks and County Councilor Lawry Mann will read a proclamation declaring Tuesday as Navajo Code Talkers Day in Los Alamos.

Sam Billison, president of the Navajo Code Talkers Association, will then speak beginning about 11:10 a.m.

Christine Benally is the master of ceremonies.

In 1942, 29 Navajos from the Navajo nation in Arizona and New Mexico were recruited by the United States Marines to assist the U.S. effort in the Pacific Theater. It was the complex Navajo language that Japanese soldiers couldn't decipher that made it possible for U.S. soldiers to communicate without the fear of having their battlefield strategies exposed.

Last year Congress passed and President Clinton approved creation of a gold medal to honor the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers and silver medals to those men who later qualified as a code talker.

According to information from the Navajo Code Talkers Association, the first code talkers were recruited to devise the code terms that would later convey critical information on the beaches and in the jungles of the Pacific Theater. "They had to find words in their tongue [that] could describe complex military operations. The code words could not be overly long and had to lend themselves to ready memorization. In combat there would be no time to consult code books - transmission and comprehension had to be instantaneous."

The code talkers developed Navajo words that had a logical association with military terms. For example, "Besh-lo," which is Navajo for iron fish, became the code word for submarine. And "Ne-as-jah," which is the Navajo word for owl, was the code word for observation plane.

By the end of the war 411 terms had been devised to carry vital information past Japanese intelligence. The code was especially effective in reporting the location of enemy artillery and directing fire from American positions.
For more information, contact Debbi Wersonick of Los Alamos' Office of Equal Opportunity at 667-7870.

Additional information about the Navajo Code Talkers can be found at http://www.lapahie.com/NavajoCodeTalker.cfm online.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.