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Stuart A. Kallen
Lerner Publications
Minneapolis
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Publishers note: The code developed by the Navajo was a closely guarded secret
during World War II. Details of it werent even recorded in military documents.
Because of this secrecy, official military records about the code and its use in
battle sometimes differ from the first-person accounts of Navajo code talkers.
In those cases, we have chosen to use the facts as explained by the code talkers
themselves, considering their words to be primary sources.
Content consultant: Judith Schiess Avila, coauthor of Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir by One
of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII
Copyright 2018 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written
permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an
acknowledged review.
Lerner Publications Company
A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.
241 First Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA
For reading levels and more information, look up this title at www.lernerbooks.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kallen, Stuart A., 1955 author.
Title: Navajo code talkers / Stuart A. Kallen.
Description: Minneapolis : Lerner Publications, 2018. | Series: Heroes of World War II | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017004839 (print) | LCCN 2017006215 (ebook) | ISBN 9781512486445 (library
bound : alkaline paper) | ISBN 9781512498189 (eb pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: World War, 19391945CryptographyJuvenile literature. | Navajo code
talkersJuvenile literature. | Navajo IndiansHistory20th centuryJuvenile literature. |
Navajo languageHistory20th centuryJuvenile literature. | World War, 19391945
Participation, IndianJuvenile literature. | United States. Marine CorpsIndian troops
History20th centuryJuvenile literature.
Classification: LCC D810.C88 K35 2018 (print) | LCC D810.C88 (ebook) | DDC 940.54/8673dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017004839
Manufactured in the United States of America
1-43468-33208-6/7/2017
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CONTENTS
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INTRODUCTION
STEADY GUNFIRE
In February 1945, a battle was raging on the
South Pacific island of Iwo Jima. Bullets from a Japanese
machine-gun nest rattled the air as bombs exploded.
Navajo talkers were part of a US Marine Corps
fighting the Japanese. As bullets whizzed
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by their heads, the code talkers sent messages between
troops on different parts of the island, such as Need
bulldozer on Green Beach immediately and Receiving
steady machine gun and rifle fire.
Marine got the messages and sent
a bulldozer to Green Beach. The bulldozer knocked
down barriers built by the enemy. A group of marines
attacked the machine-gun nest. The enemy gunfire
stopped, and dozens of US soldiers were saved.
US Marines take cover
behind a hill at Iwo
Jima in February 1945.
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