4.+Minority+Contributions

Marc Gliozzi October 21, 2008

Name: Ben Yahzee Birth date: June 2, 1920 Date of Service: World War II Occupation: Code Talker Race: Navajo Native American Indian

Group of Code Talkers in uniform:http://david.australianinfront.com.au/Interesting/navajo_code_talkers1.jpg

As a Native American, World War II proved very difficult to get through. That is not to say that other people, especially other minorities, didn’t have trouble, it was just a different experience being a Navajo Indian. It seemed that many of the other minorities were starting to get recognized and given rights, but us Native Americans are just thought of as “those Indians on reservations.” African Americans were allowed to be in every part of the U.S. armed forces. They were in the army, air force, marines, and navy and made up about 9-10% of the U.S. armed forces (Axelrod 1). The Mexican Americans were recognized too. More than 300,000 served in the military under different roles, although they did suffer a large amount of losses. Even the enemy was used in the military. Over 33,000 Japanese Americans served in the U.S. military during World War II. They would put on uniforms and serve as spies for the military, or they would be used as translators for intercepted messages or overheard conversations. But none of these people enlisted like the Native Americans. Although there were little of us to enlist, “some 25,000 Native Americans enlisted in the armed services, too, including 800 women,” we did it out of for the good of the nation, not for civil rights like most of the other minorities (Danzer 564). If the military wasn’t short on man power and had their own coded language they could speak, they probably wouldn’t even want us Native Americans. They just used us for our language. As a Navajo Indian, there were very few others (besides other Navajos) that understood our language. We were used to transmit positions over the radio and write field orders in the Navajo language so that if it was intercepted by the enemy, then it could not be deciphered and we would not have to fear about them finding out position that way. I suppose it was a combined effort of all races, whether it be Jewish, African American, white, Japanese American, or Native Americans, but I think the Native Americans that served during the war, including myself, truly made a difference within a war on their own (“Code Talkers” 1).

Danzer, Gerald A., J. Jorge Klor de Ava, Larry S. Krieger, Louis E. Wilson, Nancy Woloch. __The Americans Reconstruction to the 21st Century__. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2005.

Axelrod, Alan. “African-American soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen.” __Encyclopedia__ __ of World War II __, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. __Modern World History Online__. Facts On File, Inc. Hunterdon Central Regional High School. 21 Oct 2008.

"Code Talkers." __Oklachahta__. Sep 1999. Okla Chahta Clan of CA Inc.. 21 Oct 2008. .