I am not saying that I’ve always wanted to be a spy or that the Lord High Admiralty of Secret Keepers would accept me even if I tried. But I do admit to an admiration for espionage … at least when it is conducted by the good guys. And I have a special fondness for the oddballs, eccentrics, and patriots who broke the Nazi Enigma code during World War II. More recently, I have learned about the Navajo code talkers.

They came into being at the beginning of the War in the Pacific when the Marine Corps was looking for a way to communicate tactical information in a code that would be undecipherable to the Japanese. Philip Johnson, son of a missionary, had grown up on a Navajo reservation and suggested the Navajo language because it has no alphabet, no symbols, is extremely complex, cannot be written, and was only spoken by those who lived on Navajo lands or in the American Southwest.

In other words, it was perfect.

Eventually, a code, including a dictionary for military terms, was created. The Marines recruited over 200 Navajos and this group, known as “code talkers,” participated in every assault in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945. According to Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine signal officer, “Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima.” The Japanese, please note, never cracked the code.