Sally McClain

Details the little known stories of Navajo code talkers of World War II. It tells of the unlikely union of Navajo people and the United States Marine Corps during the war in the South Pacific.
The U.S. Marine Corps recruited young Navajo warriors to create a secret code, using their native language that many of them had once been forbidden to speak.The Navajo Code Talkers played decisive roles in the Pacific Theater and helped turned the tide in the bloody battles for Bougainville, Cape Gloucester, New Britain, Saipan, Guam, Peleliu, and Iwo Jima. Their unbreakable code helped save countless American lives and earned the Navajo Code Talkers the undying respect of their comrades in arms.… (mer)

A factual, rather spare history of a largely unknown aspect of the second world war

My sense is that the author lacked sufficient detail to be able to draw a more detailed depiction of the events covered.
Also, got a little tired with repeated statements that the code talkers worked without a single error in war time efforts when their training tests revealed that there were errors (though admittedly not of a high degree and certainly nothing to detract from the conclusion that they were far far more efficient and effective than the alternatives available at the time.

Overall, a useful and informative overview.

I was told by a resident of Arozonia that each Navajo code talker had a non Navajo soldier assigned as a buddy, with instructions to kill the Navajo rather than allow him to be captured by the enemy ( the Japanese forces) . The book puts a different slant on that topic, suggesting that as the Navajo were often mistaken to be Japanese, the buddies were assigned to lower the risk of friendly fire taking the Navajos out ( and a number of instances where troops captured " Japanese" only to be surprised that they were indeed the Navajo ( the problem exacerbated by reason that the role of the Navajos was kept under wraps so many did not know of their existence in the forces) .

There was a movie made a few years ago ( the wind talkers?) which I have not seen, so I am not aware of whether there are common themes or not.… (mer)