Our forbidden language became a weapon in WW2

Did you know a group of Native American Navajo men played a pivotal role in World War Two? For decades it was classified, but slowly their stories are coming out.

That's in part thanks to Laura Tohe. She is a Native American poet who spent her childhood in the Chuska Mountains of New Mexico. She went to a school for indigenous kids, who faced punishment if they spoke their native language of Navajo. For years Laura didn't know how their forbidden language had actually shaped her father Benson's life.

When he was just 16 years old, Benson had enlisted as a marine and joined the ranks of the Navajo Code Talkers. The Code Talkers was a group created by the US military as part of wartime strategy where the Navajo language formed the basis of an unbreakable code, credited with having saved countless lives. It was key to America's success in the South Pacific.

Laura Tohe loved stories, and became a renowned poet but the story she really wanted to hear was her dad's - but he wouldn't say much. Laura slowly pieced together the role he played in the war, together with 400 other Native American Navajo men, collecting their testimonies in her book 'Code Talker Stories'.

Audio clip of Alfred Peaches, courtesy of Laura Tohe

Presenter: Asya Fouks
Producer: Sarah Kendal

Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707

(Image: Benson Tohe and fellow U.S. Marine. Credit: Benson Tohe)