Navajo Code Talkers Association President Passes Away at Age 87

World War II vet and Navajo Code Talker's Association President Keith Little passed away in a northeastern Arizona hospital at the age of 87 this week.

Little joined the Marines at 17. He was among hundreds of Navajos recruited by the U.S. Marine Corps and trained as Code Talkers, who used a code that was developed by 29 Navajos and based on the Navajo language. Code Talkers used the code to confound the Japanese and help win World War II.

"My motivation was to fight the enemy with a gun or whatever," Little told the Associated Press in a July 2009 interview. "When I went into the Marine Corps ... I knew nothing about the Navajo code. It was really astonishing to me to get to Camp Pendleton and there were a bunch of Navajos there, and they were working with a Navajo code."

Due to deteriorating health, Little had been in and out of hospitals over the last year, but still managed to appear in a number of parades and speaking engagements. Little had travelled throughout the country lobbying for a museum outside of Window Rock, AZ that would archive the Code Talker's story for future generations as well as house WWI militaria. Little was apparently hoping that the museum would be open by 2014, but more funds would be needed in order for that to happen.

Tribal president Ben Shelly called for flags to be flown at half staff for the rest of the week. The funeral service was held in Window Rock, AZ and Little was buried at a family plot in Crystal, NM on Saturday.

In leiu of flowers, Little's family is asking that donations be made in his honor to the Navajo Code Talker's Museum online or by mail via NCTF Museum Donation, PO Box 1266, Window Rock, AZ 86515.