Young Marine from Anderson Visits Navajo Code Talkers

Observer Reports

Young Marine Gunnery Sgt. Diego Ortiz-Saca, 17, of the Electric City Young Marines in Anderson, traveled to Window Rock, Arizona last week to honor and learn from the Navajo Code Talkers from WWII. There are just five remaining Navajo Code Talkers from the 420 Navajo Marines who coded messages in WWII. More than 150 youth members of the Young Marines from across the country traveled to Arizona for three days of service culminating with a ceremony for National Navajo Code Talkers Day.

Since 2006, the Young Marines have traveled to Arizona each year to celebrate the Navajo Code Talkers and to meet the few remaining survivors in person. 

The Navajo code talkers took part in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945. They transmitted messages by telephone and radio in their native language, a code that the Japanese never broke.

The idea to use Navajo for secure communications came from Philip Johnston, the son of a missionary to the Navajos and one of the few non-Navajos who spoke their language fluently. Johnston, brought up on the Navajo reservation, was a World War I veteran who knew of the military's search for a code that would withstand all attempts to decipher it. 

The Young Marines is a national non-profit 501c (3) youth education and service program for boys and girls, age eight through the completion of high school. The Young Marines promotes the mental, moral and physical development of its members. The program focuses on teaching the values of leadership, teamwork and self-discipline, so its members can live and promote a healthy, drug-free lifestyle.

Since the Young Marines' beginnings in 1959 with one unit and a handful of boys, the organization has grown to over 264 units with 8,500 youth and 2,500 adult volunteers in 40 states, the District of Columbia, Japan and affiliates in a host of other countries.