Official U.S. Marine Corps photo. Cpl. Henry Bahe Jr. (left) and Pfc. George H. Kirk (right), Navajo Code Talkers.

This exhibit traces the story of, and is a tribute to, the famed United States Marine Corps Navajo Code Talkers. A pilot group of 29 volunteers developed and tested the original code, based on the Navajo language, in 1942. Proven fast, accurate and completely baffling to the Japanese, the Marine Corps recruited nearly 400 more Navajo men to utilize the encryption in the transmission of critical communications throughout the Pacific theater. The ingenuity of the Navajo code, and the valor of the Navajo Marines, greatly helped in the effort to win the war in the Pacific.

This traveling exhibition is produced and circulated by the Circle of Light Navajo Educational Project, Gallup, New Mexico.