Code Talker by Joseph Bruchac

While we were learning to be code talkers, the war had gone on. By the end of August 1943, as our training ended, Admiral Nimitz was getting ready to stage amphibious assaults on the Gilbert Islands with the First and Second Marine divisions. The First and Second had finally managed, after a long and bloody struggle, to secure Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. Most people in America, including those in the military, had thought the Canal would be easy for the Marines to take. A few weeks, perhaps a month or two. The Japanese had been tougher than anyone expected. It took no less than six months of furious battle on land, on sea, and in the air. Now those Marines were back on Hawaii, resting and training for their next mission. Among them were the thirteen Navajo code talkers who'd been assigned to the First Division and saw combat on the Gilberts.

Hawaii was where I was going, too. There I'd have further training work with those code talkers who'd experienced battle. I was excited at the thought. Not only was I going to meet other Navajo Marines who'd been under fire, I'd actually be going to one of those faraway exotic tropical islands that had previously only been names on a map for me. Hawaii. People said it was wonderful, like paradise on earth. Just thinking about it made me wonder what other wonderful places I'd get to see. Little did I know how many of those tropical islands would become all too familiar to me in the two years that lay ahead. And most of them would be the opposite of paradise during my stay.