Iho Code Talkers Research Paper

America was involved in two World Wars where both included the fighting force of the brave Native Americans. In World War 1, the Allied powers were fighting against the central powers and many Native Americans enlisted in the military to protect their homelands, communities, traditions, and to make an attempt at assimilation into American society. The Native Americans who changed the war in favor of the Allied powers were the Code Talkers. What started off as a small group of Choctaw Code Talkers eventually turned into the formation of the Navajo Code Talkers of World War 2. The Code Talkers were vital to both World Wars, but had a much larger impact in World War 2 during the Battle of Iwo Jima and all battles afterwards. The Navajo Code …show more content…
After the war, many Navajo experienced different forms of PTSD from the brutal killings and vast amounts of death they witnessed. The Navajo held a belief of "Walking in Beauty", a beautiful belief that the Native Americans are connected to all living things. If they saw someone die, the Navajo truly believed that all the sins of the dying person would be released and absorbed by the Natives. This led to PTSD and a traumatic illness called "Ghost sickness." Since the soul of the Native would be imbalanced because of the evil spirits haunting them, the Natives had spiritual chants, healing songs, and healing ceremonies led/prescribed by the medicine man to rid the Navajo of the evil spirits. These chants and songs would last days in order to heal the Navajo soldier's "Ghost sickness." Their beliefs went against death and destruction so these ceremonies were necessary to Native American healing. “The Navajo have that wonderful image of what they call the pollen path. Pollen is the life source, the pollen path is the path to the center. The Navaho say, "Oh, beauty before me, beauty behind me, beauty to the right of me, beauty to the left of me, beauty above me, beauty below me, I’m on the pollen