The Windtalkers: The Truth versus the Inaccuracies

Synthesis/ Reflection Paper

Mary Jacoby

For my inquiry, I searched the Miami University library database to find articles about the Navajo’s contribution to World War ӏӏ. This database was essential in helping me find scholarly sources. I found many great articles that had varying views on the Navajo code talkers and World War ӏӏ. For most research projects prior to this one, I had used Google search engine to try to find works that would support what I was writing. With Google, there was definitely a struggle to make sure the information I was reading was coming from a reliable source. Through this inquiry, I got a much better feel for how to research and find many different scholarly articles. I know that I have reliable information that will aid me in writing my inquiry.

When I read each of the scholarly sources, I was always surprised to learn something new about the code talkers. While the movie, The Windtalkers, gives a general overview of what the Navajo’s job was during World War ӏӏ, the movie still left much to be desired. A lot of articles I read focused on the recognition issue underlying the code talkers’ story. I found many interesting facts that I had never heard before. The articles I found gave me a greater insight into why there was a lack of recognition for the Native Americans. Several other articles focused on the code talkers’ contribution to the war effort. Through the sources, I found many similarities and discrepancies to The Windtalkers. I was able to compare and contrast the facts of the war through historians versus the movie. What surprised me is that while the movie got a significant amount of negative press for its inaccuracies, but I found much of the movie to be historically accurate.

The scholarly sources I found are the ground work for which I can lay the foundation of my paper on. They helped me to better understand the topic of the code talkers and to formulate an idea of the focus of my paper. Before I read the articles, I had no idea some of the issues surrounding the code talkers existed. One source, “Declassified Heroes:  Honoring Native American Code Talkers,” even mentions the fact that one of the authors just stumbled onto the great story of the Navajo code talkers while he was hitchhiking. The scholarly articles gave me a more in depth view of the Navajos in World War ӏӏ. In a two hour movie, it would have been difficult to fit in everything I learned from the sources I read. The sources gave me a broader knowledge of my main text.

Besides giving me more information on my primary text, the sources also helped to point me in the direction I wanted my paper to go. Through the readings, I decided on the points that will be my main focus. The general theme of my paper will be focused on the disputed discrepancies and information that was not in the movie. Within this general idea I will focus on three main points: the coded language, the battle scenes, and the recognition of the Navajo code talkers. Through research, I noticed that there were key facts left out about the nature of the language, the disputation of the origin of the Navajo code, and the contribution other Native American tribes. As far as the battle scenes were concerned, I will be focusing on The Windtalkers’ reviewers’ complaints that there was too much violence surrounding the code talkers, the assumption in the movie that the Navajo were naïve about the war, and the underlying idea in the movie that the code talker’s bodyguards were supposed to keep them from being captured at all costs. As far as the recognition side of the dispute, I will be looking into my research about why the Navajo didn’t get recognition as the only unbroken code in military history, what the Native American reaction was to the lack of publicity after the war, and whether the movie accurately portrayed scenes regarding Navajo recognition.

After watching the movie and doing all the research, I was in shock that I hadn’t heard anything about the history of the code talkers before. I know that I had never read a book on it before and that it certainly was never discussed in history textbooks in high school. It was as though an important piece of American history had been erased. I believe that by focusing on the discrepancies of The Windtalkers, I can bring to light the accurate and often untold story of the Navajo code talkers.