Memorandum from Commander General Vogel to the Marine Corps Regarding Enlistment of "Navaho" Indians
3/6/1942
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In this letter, Commander General Clayton B. Vogel recommended to the U. S. Marine Corps commandant the initial recruitment of 200 Navajos for the Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet.
Vogel detailed a demonstration he saw of the transmission of messages by telephone and voice-radio, and outlined the advantages to the enlistment of Navajo Indians. He noted that the Navajo dialect was regarded as "completely unintelligible" to other tribes, and that only 28 Americans were thought to possess a more than superficial knowledge of the language. In addition, Vogel noted that the Navajo was "the only tribe in the United States that has not been infested with Germans, studying the various tribal dialects [of American Indians] under the guise of art students, anthropologists, etc."
Text adapted from “The Navajo Code Talkers: A Secret World War II Memorandum” in the September 2001 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) publication Social Education.
Vogel detailed a demonstration he saw of the transmission of messages by telephone and voice-radio, and outlined the advantages to the enlistment of Navajo Indians. He noted that the Navajo dialect was regarded as "completely unintelligible" to other tribes, and that only 28 Americans were thought to possess a more than superficial knowledge of the language. In addition, Vogel noted that the Navajo was "the only tribe in the United States that has not been infested with Germans, studying the various tribal dialects [of American Indians] under the guise of art students, anthropologists, etc."
Text adapted from “The Navajo Code Talkers: A Secret World War II Memorandum” in the September 2001 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) publication Social Education.
This primary source comes from the Records of the U.S. Marine Corps.
National Archives Identifier: 6207442
Full Citation: Memorandum from Commander General Clayton B. Vogel to the Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps, Regarding Enlistment of Navaho Indians; 3/6/1942; 1535-75 General Information Regarding From Jan. 1st, 1942 To May 31st, 1942; General Correspondence, 1/1/1939 - 6/30/1950; Records of the U.S. Marine Corps, Record Group 127; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/documents/document/vogel-marines-navajo, May 23, 2025]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.
