225 - Navajo Code Talkers

Can you imagine fighting a war for a country that had removed you from the land your ancestors lived on for centuries - a country actively trying to erase your language and culture? That’s exactly what the Navajo Code Talkers did in WW2. The Navajo code talkers took part in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945. They served in all six Marine divisions, Marine Raider battalions and Marine parachute units, transmitting messages by telephone and radio in their native language - a code that the Japanese never broke. The US government had been trying to erase the Navajo language for decades. Luckily they weren't successful, for the Navajo language and its code talkers contributed greatly to Allied victory over the Japanese. A small group of brave meat sacks built an unbreakable code from a language they’d been forbidden to speak in their childhood. Pretty crazy. The inspirational story of the Navajo code talkers, a deep dive into the Pacific theater of World War II, and of course so much more, today, on Timesuck!  Watch the Suck on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uYl5QxBv5mE Merch  - https://badmagicmerch.com/   Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste) Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast Wanna become a Space Lizard? We're over 10,000 strong! Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast  Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.