During World War II, the U.S. Marine Corps found that it could send messages in an unbreakable “code”: a dialect of Navajo which only native speakers could understand. Enemy codebreakers never had a chance, and the Navajo Indian “code talkers” are credited with making a major contribution to the Pacific campaign.
Around 400 code talkers served during the war, starting with 29 originals who were recently awarded the Congressional Gold Medal; the others who followed are to be awarded Silver Medals later this month. Gorman dedicated herself to locate as many of the code talkers as she could find so they could receive their medals, a task made more difficult since the code talkers’ feats were kept secret until 1969. She died September 9 from heart trouble, but the news of her death only came to light this week. She was 77.