As part of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum’s observance of the 234th birthday of the United States Marine Corps, a group of 12 Navajo Code Talkers, who provided communications for Marine combat units during World War II, delivered greetings in the American Indian language on Tuesday to kick off the ceremony.
The Marine Corps recruited Navajo Indians to serve as Code Talkers in the Pacific Theatre during World War II. They provided communications between combat units, speaking in a code based on the Navajo language which the Japanese could not break. The Code Talkers were sworn to secrecy and the program remained a military secret until 1968. They received Congressional Medals of Honor in 2001.
NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly, himself a Marine Corps veteran, and Bill White, President of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, also spoke at the birthday event along with Code Talkers President Keith Little.
In addition to the Code Talkers there was a special cake-cutting ceremony on the Flight Deck. |
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