Jourdan, I am so proud of you! Thank you for asking why we don't feature the Navajo Code Talkers at our museum. You are the first person to ask this in my ten years as the question answerer, and it is a good question.
You are correct
that we feature mostly Manhattan Project related information in our history
exhibits, and that is actually the short answer. You might like to know that we
occasionally get criticized for not talking more about the Holocaust in our
museum. I am fascinated that while we seem to brag about "ending the
war," very few people if any suggest we could talk more about the aspects
that actually won the war, the Navajo Code Talkers being a major contribution
along with, for example, shipbuilding and the secret developments of radar and
code breaking.
WWII, particularly
in the Pacific, was a truly horrible affair. I cannot imagine the feelings of
the Marines who bore the brunt of one amphibious assault after another against
entrenched and fanatical fighters. They were extremely lucky to have the Code
Talkers with them, and the ability to communicate securely because the Navajo
People, Your People, had protected and maintained their ability to speak in
their own tongue, often in the face of harsh government opposition.
I will place a copy
of this text in our answer book. It is not much, and nowhere near what they
deserve, but the Navajo Code Talkers earned at least this little honor.
