Editing Code talker (section)

{{Short description|Military personnel using their native languages for secret wartime communication}}
{{hatnote group|{{Redirect|Codetalkers|the band|the Codetalkers}}
{{For|the ''[[Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain]]'' character|List of characters in the Metal Gear series#Code Talker{{!}}list of characters in the ''Metal Gear'' series § Code Talker}}}}
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[[File:ChoctawCoders.jpg|thumb|[[Choctaw Nation|Choctaw]] soldiers in training in World War I for coded radio and telephone transmissions|alt=Group of Choctaw soldiers holding American flag]]

A '''code talker''' was a person employed by the military during wartime to use a little-known language as a means of secret communication. The term is most often used for United States service members during the [[World War]]s who used their knowledge of [[Native American languages]] as a basis to transmit coded messages. In particular, there were approximately 400 to 500 [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] in the [[United States Marine Corps]] whose primary job was to transmit secret [[Military tactics|tactical]] messages. Code talkers transmitted messages over military telephone or radio communications nets using formally or informally developed codes built upon their indigenous languages. The code talkers improved the speed of [[encryption]] and decryption of communications in [[front line]] operations during [[World War II]] and are credited with some decisive victories. Their code was never broken.

There were two code types used during World War II. Type one codes were formally developed based on the languages of the [[Comanche]], [[Hopi]], [[Meskwaki]], and [[Navajo]] peoples. They used words from their languages for each letter of the English alphabet. Messages could be encoded and decoded by using a [[simple substitution cipher]] where the [[ciphertext]] was the Native language word. Type two code was informal and directly translated from English into the Indigenous language. Code talkers used short, descriptive phrases if there was no corresponding word in the Indigenous language for the military word. For example, the Navajo did not have a word for ''submarine'', so they translated it as ''iron fish''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://americanindian.si.edu/education/codetalkers/html/chapter4.html|title=Code Talking – Native Words Native Warriors|website=americanindian.si.edu|access-date=2019-01-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190112040555/https://americanindian.si.edu/education/codetalkers/html/chapter4.html|archive-date=January 12, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/american-indian-code-talkers|title=American Indian Code Talkers|website=The National WWII Museum {{!}} New Orleans|language=en|access-date=2019-01-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190127101902/https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/american-indian-code-talkers|archive-date=January 27, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

The term ''Code Talker'' was originally coined by the United States Marine Corps and used to identify individuals who completed the special training required to qualify as Code Talkers. Their service records indicated "642 – Code Talker" as a duty assignment. Today, the term Code Talker is still strongly associated with the bilingual [[Navajo language|Navajo]] speakers trained in the Navajo Code during World War II by the US Marine Corps to serve in all six [[List of United States Marine Corps divisions|divisions of the Corps]] and the [[Marine Raiders]] of the [[Pacific Ocean theatre of World War II|Pacific theater]]. However, the use of Native American communicators pre-dates WWII. Early pioneers of Native American-based communications used by the US Military include the [[Cherokee]], [[Choctaw]], and [[Lakota people]]s during World War I.<ref name=LakotaWWI>{{cite web|url=https://listen.sdpb.org/news/2017-03-17/lakota-wwi-code-talkers-receive-congressional-gold-medal |title=Lakota WWI Code Talkers Receive Congressional Gold Medal |last=Kent |first=Jim |date=March 17, 2017|work=[[South Dakota Public Broadcasting]]|access-date=June 21, 2023}}</ref> Today the term Code Talker includes military personnel from all Native American communities who have contributed their language skills in service to the United States.

Other Native American communicators—now referred to as code talkers—were deployed by the [[United States Army]] during World War II, including [[Lakota people|Lakota]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_9668c6fe-7a8a-11df-ab6b-001cc4c002e0.html |title=Last Lakota code talker Clarence Wolf Guts dies at 86 |last=Meyer |first=Holly |date=June 18, 2010 |work=[[Rapid City Journal]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100623012656/http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_9668c6fe-7a8a-11df-ab6b-001cc4c002e0.html |archive-date=June 23, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Meskwaki]], [[Mohawk people|Mohawk]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/mohawk-code-talker-honoured-afn-house-commons-1.4932074 |title=Last WWII Mohawk code talker honoured by Assembly of First Nations, House of Commons |date=December 4, 2018 |last=Deer |first=Ka'nhehsí:io |publisher=[[CBC.ca]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208074018/https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/mohawk-code-talker-honoured-afn-house-commons-1.4932074 |archive-date=December 8, 2018 |url-status=live |access-date=December 7, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ckonfm.com/index.php/news-sports/local-news-with-reen-cook/158-mohawk-code-talkers-honored-in-washington-dc |title=Mohawk Code Talkers Honored in Washington, DC |date=November 20, 2013 |publisher=[[CKON-FM]] |access-date=February 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150511103004/http://www.ckonfm.com/index.php/news-sports/local-news-with-reen-cook/158-mohawk-code-talkers-honored-in-washington-dc |archive-date=May 11, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Comanche]], [[Tlingit]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/alaska-native-servicemen-finally-honored-as-code-talkers |title=Alaska Native servicemen finally honored as Code Talkers |agency=Associated Press |publisher=[[Fox News]] |last=D'Oro |first=Rachel |date=March 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190422031653/https://www.foxnews.com/us/alaska-native-servicemen-finally-honored-as-code-talkers |archive-date=April 22, 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=April 21, 2019}}</ref> [[Hopi]],<ref name="Magahern">{{cite magazine |last1=Magahern |first1=Jimmy |title=Humble Pride |magazine=Phoenix magazine |url=https://www.phoenixmag.com/2014/09/01/humble-pride/ |date=September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190731214840/https://www.phoenixmag.com/2014/09/01/humble-pride/ |archive-date=31 July 2019 |publisher=Cities West Media |location=Phoenix, AZ |access-date=1 August 2019 |issn=1074-1429}}</ref> [[Cree]], and [[Crow Nation|Crow]] soldiers; they served in the Pacific, North African, and European theaters.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lyle |first1=Amaani |title=Word Power: How Code Talkers Helped to Win Wars |url=https://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=121178 |website=archive.defense.gov |publisher=U. S. Department of Defense |access-date=1 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170930025722/http://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=121178 |archive-date=30 September 2017 |location=Washington, D.C. |date=28 June 2015}}</ref>