The Code Talkers When America entered World War II in the Pacific theatre, the country was at a severe disadvantage. The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor had damaged or destroyed the majority of the (1) Pacific Fleet’s ships and aircraft. Even as equipment was repaired and replaced, the military struggled to relay (2) information that needed to be kept private such as troop movements, battle plans, and tactical (3) messages; the Japanese were able to break every secret code the military developed. Their skills kept them one step ahead of (4) their plans and threatened the lives of American troops. (5) As a child Phillip Johnson was a World War I (6) veteran, who had lived on the Navajo Nation. He knew that the Navajo language was very complex, had no written component, and that it was only spoken by people of Navajo origin. (7) It would make the perfect code. Johnson, who was fluent in Navajo, took his idea to the U.S. Marines (8) in San Diego, California, and in 1942, 29 Navajo Code Talkers began training. The Code Talkers had to be fluent in both English and Navajo. The initial code (9) kept only 211 terms and eventually (10) expanded to 411 Navajo contains no military terms, so new terms were developed using traditional Navajo words. (11) An alphabet using Navajo words was also developed to further enhance the code and allow more words to be used in communications. (12) You might know, the Navajo word for aircraft actually means “bird carrier,” and the word developed to signify submarine actually means “ironfish.” The Code Talkers (13) had been exceeding expectations. During a trial run (14) of the test of their skills, a trained team translated an original message into Navajo Code, transmitted the message to another station, and re-translated the Code back into English in under three minutes; soldiers who used the old codes required nearly three hours to complete the same task. From then on, the Code Talkers were used during every major military operation in the Pacific Theatre. (15)

Question

Select one answer A NO CHANGE B in San Diego, California C of San Diego, California, D at San Diego, California

Answer 1

The best answer is A NO CHANGE.

The phrase "took his idea to the U.S. Marines in San Diego, California" is correctly structured and does not require changes. The other options create awkward phrasing or unnecessary complexity.