#OnThisDay

The Battle of Iwo Jima ended in American victory 26 March 1945. It had been an epic military campaign between American forces, including V Amphibious Corps, and the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions, and the Imperial Army of Japan, including the 109th Division. The invasion of the island began on the 19th February with an amphibious landing of the US Marines. Accompanying the 5th Marine Division were six Navajo code talker marines. These code talkers were critical to American victory and transmitted over eight hundred messages without a single error, and without a single code broken. Native American code talkers, this time Comanche, were also instrumental in the D-Day landings in June 1944.

For more on the use of Native American codes read to blurb and listen to our podcast on the D-Day landings here!