Navajo Marines of World War II

It's November, the month of Veterans Day and Thanksgiving - what an odd coincidence that I would choose this month to pick up Code Talker by Native American author Joseph Bruchac. Told in first person, like a grandfather talking to his grandchildren, this book is about Ned Begay, a Navajo who is sent to a boarding school with other young Navajos to learn the English language and the ways of the white people.  It was a miserable experience, and the children were expected to completely give up their cultural identity.  How incredibly ironic that these Najavos were then actually recruited to join the Marine Corps during World War II to become code talkers, using their native language to create a code that the Japanese couldn't break.  A fascinating look at a part of American history that was kept secret for decades.