Merril
Sandoval was born on Navajo Reservation in 1924. He joined the U.S.
Marines on
the outbreak of the Second World War. He later
explained why so many Navajos joined the the armed forces. "There
was no question we'd fight. We understood all about people taking
land from us. That was what was happening over there."
In
May 1942 Sandoval was recruited to become part of the Navajo
Code Talking program at Camp
Pendleton at Oceanside, California. An
estimated 400 Navajos agents were trained to use the code and around
300 saw action in the field. Speaking Navajo and using an additional
code within that, they were able to convey information and orders
among Marine units and Navy warships and aircraft. The Code Talkers
served in all six Marine divisions, Marine Raider battalions and Marine
parachute units. The Code Talkers were a part of every major Marine
assault during the Second World War and first
saw action on 7th August 1942 when the marines landed on Guadalcanal.
Sandoval
was sent with the marines that invaded Japanese held Iwo
Jima on 19th February, 1945. Sandoval's
job was to stay behind the frontline and translate reports from two-man
code talker teams elsewhere on the island. Sandoval then sent back
these messages to military commanders based on Hawaii.
Sandoval was also responsible for passing on orders to the U.S.
Marines
on the frontline.
Some senior
officers believe that the contribution of the Navajo code played an
important role in the success of the operation as the Japanese had
already broken the codes of the United
States Army
and the United
States Air Force.
Major Howard Connor, a 5th Marine Division signals officer, later
argued: "Were it not for the Navajos, the marines would never
have taken Iwo Jima."
Being a
Navajo Code Talker was a dangerous occupation. According to Sandoval,
Navajo soldiers were at great risk from being shot in battle by their
own side: "Those city kids had no idea. On the frontline, some
of them mistook us for Japanese."
Sandoval
and his team of code talkers fought throughout the Pacific campaign
and were with the U.S.
Marines
when they
arrived in Japan in September 1945.
After the
war Sandoval had difficulty finding work. "When I got out of
the army, I coudn't even get a job. They asked what I'd done in the
war, but I could not talk about it."
The role
of the Navajo code breakers was kept a secret until 1968. It was claimed
that the main reason for this was that the military might want to
use the code again after the war. Another factor might have been because
the government had for many years been involved in trying to destroy
the Navajo language. For example, during the Second
World War, while the Code Talkers were risking their lives on
the frontline, back home, Navajo children were being punished at reservation
schools for speaking their native language.
Northern
Arizona University: Navajo Code Talker Lesson
Navajo
Code Cipher
Navajo
Code Talkers' Dictionary
Navajo
Code Talkers: A Select Bibliography
Navajo
Code Talkers: World War II Fact Sheet
Esquire
Magazine: How the Navajo Won the War
Indian
Country: Code Talkers
(1)
Merrel Sandoval, interviewed by
Tom Otley of the Sunday
Times about landing on Iwo
Jima in February 1945 (25th August 2002)
Looking back, I don't think I was even scared. When you are young
you don't think much about what's going to happen. "Kill or be
killed', that's what the training had instilled in us. I was just
thinking it was like a film.
The landing was terrible.
The surf was really rough and the beach was steep, so when the landing
craft didn't hit straight on they turned over. In the end we had to
dump all our gear, including the radios, and swim ashore or we would
have drowned.
(2)
Merrel Sandoval, interviewed by the Arizona Republic
newspaper about the
film Windtalkers
(9th June 2002)
What was said (in the film) was pretty close. I wouldn't say it was
perfect, but it's pretty close to our code. There are a lot of things
that are missing, but I guess that's the way they make movies.
Last updated: 25th August, 2002.
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