Navajo code talkers were bilingual Navajo speakers who were recruited during World War II by the U.S. Marines. They served in their standard communications units in the Pacific Theater. The Navajo code was created by the first 29 Navajo recruits in May of 1942. About 400 Navajos were trained as code talkers. Their training was intense and all 17 pages of the code had to be memorized. From 1942 to 1945 Navajo Code Talkers took part in every Marine assault in the Pacific Theatre. Navajos served in all six Marine divisions plus parachute units and the Marine Raider battalions. The Navajo Code worked much faster than Morse Code, minutes instead of hours. They transmitted messages on the battlefield including orders, troop movements and logistics. While the Japanese were able to break codes used by the United States Army and the United States Army Air Corps, they were never able to break the Marine codes. Even a Navajo soldier captured during the Battle of Bataan could not figure out the code for the Japanese. Major Howard Connor, a 5th Marine Division signal officer at Iwo Jima stated: "Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima."