78 years ago, the first Navajo Code Talkers joined the Marine Corps
On May 5, 1942, 29 men arrived at Recruit Depot San Diego for basic training in the Marine Corps. They would go on to develop and implement an unbreakable code that was used across the Pacific theater of World War II — one which helped mask the movements of American forces from Guadalcanal, to Tarawa, Peleliu, and onward to Iwo Jima.
These men were the first of the Navajo Code Talkers.
"Early on the morning of May 4, 1942 the original twenty-nine Navajo Code Talkers boarded a bus at Fort Defiance and headed for Fort Wingate near Gallup, New Mexico," reads the post. "After lunch in the dining hall at Fort Wingate, the Navajo recruits were sworn into the U.S. Marine Corps."
The idea for the Navajo Code Talker program came from Philip Johnston, a World War I veteran and the son of a missionary who grew up on a Navajo reservation. According to the National Archives, Johnston convinced Marine Maj. Gen. Clayton B. Vogel that the Navajo language — due to it being largely unwritten — would be indecipherable to the Axis powers. Additionally, Johnston argued that the Navajo nation was large enough to supply enough recruits for the program, and isolated enough that it was unlikely that many people outside the tribe had learned the language.
https://taskandpurpose.com/history/navajo-code-talkers-enlistment-date
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Dad used to say that had it not been for the Code Talkers, the USA would have never won the war, never! He was a sargent in the Marine Corps and went to Camp Pendelton. From there he went on to Guadalcanal, etc.
My dad was their cook believe it or not. Being they were from the reservations he learned how to master the art of cooking various types of corn and other foods that the Navajo enjoyed eating.
Dad contracted seemingly every tropical disease every man could get, including malaria, beriberi and Dengue fever. He ended up in China at the end of war disarming the Japanese. He finally made it home to the USA a frail 120 lbs.
He was sick for the rest of his life but never asked the VA for help which was unfortunate for my family as he was unable to work after he was abt. 50 years old as he woke-up one day and could not get out of bed. 
May all of these fine men, my late Dad included, Rest in Peace! 
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