It was not lifted when the war ended and it became clear that the specific code would not be needed again.

The classification persisted.

The reasons shifted as the years passed — originally the code might still be useful in a future conflict; later, perhaps, the declassification process was simply not a priority for administrators with other concerns.

Whatever the specific reasons for any given decision to maintain the classification, the effect on the Code Talkers was the same: silence.

Consider what that silence meant in practice.

A Navajo veteran returning to his community after years of Pacific service could not explain to his relatives why he had been valued by the Marine Corps, could not describe the specific contribution he had made, could not say clearly what he had done when he put on headphones and spoke into a radio handset under fire on islands ten thousand miles from home.