GCKANB Navajo YIL-TAS (Unknown Cache) in Texas, United States created by WAAS-up

This cache has been archived.

Prime Reviewer: As there's been no cache to find for months, I'm archiving it to keep it from continually showing up in search lists, and to prevent it from blocking other cache placements. If you wish to repair/replace the cache sometime in the future, just contact us (by email), and assuming it meets the guidelines, we'll be happy to unarchive it.

GCKANB ▼

A cache by WAAS-up Message this owner

Hidden : 8/20/2004

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

Welcome recruits to the Whereabout Detective Network (WDN). Your orientation begins with a mission designed to teach you some basic code breaking techniques that will be needed on future WDN cases.The coordinate above is to the main Comanche Lookout Park entrance. You will need to decode the cipher below in order to receive the cache coordinate.

This training mission focuses on the Navajo code used by the United States Marines in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. The U.S. military has a 50-year history of using Native American "code talkers" to encrypt battlefield radio communications. These languages are ideal for ciphering messages because they have no written alphabet and contain tonal variations that are nearly undetectable to the untrained ear. For these reasons, the Navajo Code remained an unsolved mystery until it was declassified in 1968.

Private First Class Preston Toledo (left) and Private First Class Frank Toledo, cousins and Navajos, attached to a Marine Artillery Regiment in the South Pacific will relay orders over a field radio in their native tongue. OFFICIAL U.S. MARINE CORPS PHOTO

The first combat experiments using Native American codes were conducted in 1918 during WWI using two Choctaw soldiers familiar with a number of tribal dialects. Although the Army used Comanche code talkers in Germany during WWII, the largest and most famous group was the Navajo Marine code talkers that served our country in the war of the Pacific. The Navajo code contained a dictionary of literally hundreds of key phrases for common military lingo. For example, the code for submarine sounds like BESH-LO in Navajo, which means, "iron fish." This dictionary made it nearly impossible for captured (untrained) Navajo soldiers to translate messages for the enemy.

On to the training mission... Decipher the following code and execute its instruction to complete the field exercise.

A-NIH-LEH CHIDI-DA-AH-HE-GONI HANE-AL-NEH NA-NISH-YAZZIE NAKI-ALH--DEH-DA-AL-ZHIN BE-BO-HO-SNEE KAH-YA-NESH-CHAI BEH-EH-HO-ZIN-NA-AS-DZOH GIHA NAKI-ALH--DEH-DA-AL-ZHIN HANI-BA-AH-HO-ZIN AH-DI GLOE-IH-QUI-AH WOLA-CHI-A-MOFFA-GAHN DA-AHL-ZHIN NA-NES-DIZI

The WDN will be tracking your accomplishments on this and future missions. Remember, do not post any solutions or hints on this unsecured website. Finally, the WDN is an equal opportunity network but does not provide any child care facilities. School aged children are allowed on this mission but should be supervised within 100 feet of the final field site.