They spoke to historians who were beginning to recognize that the story had not been told.

They described the code, the training, the deployment, the conditions under which they had transmitted and received messages in the Pacific.

What they found, when they began to speak, was that the story was remarkable enough to attract attention — but that the public recognition and the institutional acknowledgment that such a remarkable story deserved had not come automatically with declassification.

The classification had been lifted, but that did not mean anyone in Washington had taken immediate responsibility for ensuring that the public understood what had happened or that the men who had done it received the acknowledgment they were owed.

The process of recognition was slow, driven largely by the advocacy of the Code Talkers themselves, their families, and a growing community of historians and journalists who understood that the story was significant.

The first significant formal recognition came in 1969, when the First Marine Division held a reunion that included acknowledgment of the Code Talkers’ contribution.