Kenji Kawano met Navajo Code Talker, Dr. Carl N. Gorman. Their friendship formed quickly. Gorman invited Kawano to a couple Code Talker meetings and it wasn't long until Kawano became the official photographer for the Navajo Code Talker Association.
The American offensive in the Pacific during World War II [was] hampered by the Japanese ability to crack the most secret U.S. Codes. Navajo was virtually unknown outside the reservations, ... and [their] code proved uncrackable. Kenji Kawano's striking photographs capture the quiet dignity of the surviving veterans as they recall their actions.
―Los Angeles Time