Navajo Dictionary

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Description

The U.S. Marines used Navajos to transmit and receive messages in their native language during World War II. Because the Navajo language is a complex, unwritten language that has no alphabet or symbols, it was a perfect candidate for coded communication. The Japanese never broke the code.

Citation

This primary source comes from the Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations.

National Archives Identifier: 26870984

Full Citation: Navajo Dictionary; ca. 1945; Non-Navy, US Marine Corps, Series Navajo Dictionary June 1945; World War II Command Files, 1971 – 2004; Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Record Group 38; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/document/navajo-dictionary/, January 29, 2026]

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