In a This Day in History video, learn that on July 7, 1930, construction began on the Hoover Dam. Twenty-thousand unemployed laborers happily took on the job, but it was a grueling and dangerous task between the scorching desert heat and constant dynamite blasts. When finished, Hoover was the largest dam in the world, standing 726 feet high.
Samuel Sandoval, one of the last original Navajo Code Talkers, recalls enlisting in the Marines at 18 to help create an unbreakable code. Using their sacred, unwritten language, he and his brothers-in-arms forged a secret weapon that never fell to the enemy.
Historian Zonnie Gorman shares the legacy of the Navajo Code Talkers, including her father, Carl. These heroes used their native language to help secure every major Pacific battle. As Major Connor noted, without them, Iwo Jima would never have been taken.