Window Rock, Arizona. (September 1, 2024): In this photo by Lance Corporal Erica Stanke, a member of the glorious history of the Marine Corps spends a day with Young Marines who represent the future of this heralded institution. The past was represented by Corporal Peter Macdonald, a Navajo Code Talker veteran who used his native language skills to provide an unbreakable military code during World War II. Joining them in this annual event were members of the Young Marines Program, a national non-profit 501c (3) youth education and service program for children, aged eight through high school that promotes the mental, moral, and physical development of its members.

During the height of the war in the Pacific, America needed an unbreakable code to communicate their operational plans without revealing them to the enemy. They found the perfect solution, the Navajo Nation. The Marines selected 29 Navajo men, the Navajo Code Talkers, who created a code based on the complex, unwritten Navajo language.

The code assigned a Navajo word to key military phrases that enabled the Code Talkers to translate three lines of English in 20 seconds, not 30 minutes as was common with existing code-breaking machines. During the nearly month-long battle for Iwo Jima, for example, six Navajo Code Talker Marines successfully transmitted more than eight hundred messages without error. The Code Talkers went on to participate in every major Marine operation in the Pacific theater, giving the U.S. a critical advantage throughout the war. At the end of the war, the Navajo Code remained unbroken.

The Young Marines is a program to develop the mental, moral, and physical excellence expected of the greatest fighting machine in history. These young folks learn the values of honesty, fairness, respect, and loyalty as well as critical skills like attention to detail, and obeying orders. The Young Marines promotes physical fitness through a series of physical activities including athletic events and close order drills. They advocate a healthy, drug-free lifestyle by continual drug prevention education programs including avoiding gateway drugs. Participants receive a higher initial pay grade upon enlistment in any of the armed forces.