World War II · Film · 2002
Windtalkers
A shell-shocked Marine sergeant is assigned to guard a Navajo code talker on Saipan, with secret orders to protect the code at any cost, even the life of the man beside him.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 4 places.
Stop 1: Saipan landing beaches
Key location
Pinned down by friendly artillery after the landing, Yahzee slips behind Japanese lines in disguise to call in the right coordinates.
Stop 2: Tanapag village
Camped in a village, the Marines are ambushed, and Enders faces the order he dreaded.
Stop 3: Mount Tapochau
On a ridge above an ambushed convoy, Yahzee and Enders call in an airstrike under heavy fire.
Stop 4: Monument Valley, Navajo Nation
Back home among the mesas, Yahzee and his family perform a Navajo ceremony to honour a fallen friend.
What really happened
From 1942 the Marine Corps recruited Navajo men to pass radio messages in a code based on their language; about 400 served in the Pacific, and the code was never broken. They were not publicly honoured until the program was declassified in 1968, and the original 29 received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2001.
The Battle of Saipan, from 15 June to 9 July 1944, killed almost the entire Japanese garrison of about 30,000, cost the Americans some 3,000 dead and saw thousands of civilians die, many by suicide. Code talkers served there, but historians and veterans have found no evidence of orders to kill them to prevent capture, the premise of the film.
Where to watch
Checking streaming services…
Full details
- Original title
- Windtalkers
- Directed by
- John Woo
- Countries
- United States
- Languages
- English, Navajo, Japanese
- Released
- 2002
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Pacific
- Themes
- Combat
