Navajo Code Talker Statue

Phoenix, Arizona

The story of the Navajo Code Talkers is one of the great encryption sagas of the 20th century. During World War 2, the United States Marines deployed 400 native Navajo speakers in tactical battlefield communication roles from 1942-45, using their "unknown" language. The unbreakable code allowed Allied troops to coordinate with messages that enemy Japanese defenders never successfully deciphered. The Navajo code talkers' essential role in actions on islands such as Iwo Jima and Okinawa was only officially acknowledged decades later.

An Arizona landscape architecture company designed the 16-ft. tall bronze of a crouching, helmeted soldier code-talking on his field radio. The statue was installed along the central walkway in war memorial-rich Wesley Bolin Memorial Park, and dedicated in February 2008.