The Marine Corps was persuaded to run a pilot program.

The First Twenty-Nine

The recruitment of the first Navajo Code Talkers began in April 1942.

The Marine Corps sent recruiters to the Navajo Nation, the vast reservation territory spanning portions of what are now Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah — a landscape of desert, canyon, mesa, and mountain that was then, as now, one of the largest reservations in the United States.

The recruiters were looking for young men who were fluent in both Navajo and English and who met the physical requirements for Marine service.

They were also looking, though this was less explicit, for men who could be trusted with a classified program — men who understood the stakes and who would keep what they were told to keep.