[6938] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Clinton lauds Navajo WWII codetalkers at New Mexico event
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Declan McCullagh)
Tue Apr 18 15:42:28 2000
Message-Id: <4.3.0.20000418130050.01cc8bc0@pop.webcom.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2000 13:01:06 -0500
To: cryptography@c2.net, cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
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http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,35730,00.html
Clinton Honors Navajo Heroes
by Declan McCullagh (declan@wired.com)
6:00 a.m. Apr. 18, 2000 PDT
SHIPROCK, NEW MEXICO -- The World War II code was as obscure as
possible: "wol-la-chee" represented the letter A, but so did
"be-la-sana" and "tse-nill."
The letter R also could be transmitted in different ways, using the
corresponding words for rabbit, ram, and rice, according to a system
that a group of Navajo "codetalkers" developed in 1942 for the U.S.
Marine Corps.
Their efforts at obfuscation led to "countless" military victories,
President Clinton said Monday at an event where he highlighted the
accomplishments of the roughly 420 Navajo tribe members turned
cryptographers who served in WWII.
"The United States may never have taken Iwo Jima, or won countless
other battles in the Pacific, if it weren't for the bravery, the
sacrifice, and the unbreakability of the code of the Navajo code
talkers," Clinton told a cheering audience of over 10,000 Navajo
nation members.
Only perhaps a dozen of the code talkers showed up to the event,
sitting in the front row in brilliant yellow formal garb. The aging
code talkers -- the ones who were 20 in 1942 would be nearly 80 now --
participated in the "digital divide" event as the president's honor
guard.
Some of the other remaining code talkers reportedly stayed away from
the event -- they have eschewed parades and other commemorative
ceremonies -- to avoid glorifying war.
[...]
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