Navajo Code Talker Tom Jones Jr Passes Away at Age 89

World War II veteran and member of the famed Navajo Code Talkers Tom Jones passed away at age 89 at a medical center in northwestern New Mexico last week. Jones, who worked in the Navajo Mines after his military service, was suffering from pneumonia and admitted to the San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, NM.

Jones enlisted in November 1943 and was honorably discharged in December 1945 after training in California with other members of the Navajo tribe and serving in the Pacific theater. Throughout World War II, the Code Talkers confounded Japanese code-breakers primarily by sending out military communications in their native tongue. The Navajo language was spoken and understood by very few in the United States outside of the Four Corners region of Arizona and New Mexico, let alone anyone working on behalf of the Axis powers.

The Navajo Code Talker program was credited with maintaining secure lines of communication during the most pivotal battles of the Pacific theater. After the war, an estimated 200 Navajo Marines were sworn to secrecy over the Code Talker program to maintain secrecy- likely because the military thought such a program could see continued use during the Cold War with the Soviets. However, in the early 1970s the Code Talker program was eventually declassified and many of the Navajo veterans belatedly received recognition in the 1990s and 2000s for their efforts and unique contribution to the war effort.

The Navajo nation ordered flags flown at half mast in honor of Jones and his family released the following statement.

"Our father was a private, humble, simple, caring and giving father, grandfather, brother, friend and comrade. His heart was caring, his mind was strict, his life was blessed and his soul was graceful"

Although the Navajo tribe donated a house to Jones and other Code Talkers some 40 years ago, the home fell into disrepair and parts of it became nearly inaccessible when Jones was confined to a wheelchair.

More recently, Jones and other Code Talkers were featured in a March 2014 Los Angeles Times article that highlighted the difficult living conditions for some Navajo veterans who still live on the reservation.

Navajo Code Talker's Association VP Passes Away

Samuel Tso, the vice president of the Navajo Code Talker's Association passed away at the age of 89 this month.

Samuel was born June 22, 1922, at Black Mountain near Many Farms, Ariz., into a poor family. He was Zuni Tachiinii and born for Nakai Dine'e.

As a youth, he helped his family as a sheep herdsman, but also was interested in boxing and pursuing his education.

He attended local schools until going to a nearby boarding school, where the instructors often punished him for speaking his native language.

"Then, the nation called for him to use that same language," said Samuel's son, Ron Tso.

At 17, Samuel enlisted in the United States Marine Corps by claiming he was 21 years old, in order to be eligible for the military. He relocated to Camp Pendleton in Southern California, where he learned to be a code talker.

Samuel watched the original 29 code talkers leave for war while training. He and his unit learned the second version of the code.

"They bounced back between different versions of the code," said Ron.

Samuel loved sharing tales of the code talkers with his family and with audiences nationwide.

One of his favorite stories was when Samuel had reached Iwo Jima, an island that hosted one of the most intense battles between American and Japanese troops.

Samuel's unit reached the island just days before the battle began. While many of his comrades were overcome by fear, Samuel's concern was assuaged by a vision of a Native American maiden who told him he would return home safely.

The next day, a string of juniper beads arrived in the mail in an unaddressed envelope.

"He put [the beads] on and, as a result, he didn't have fear," said Ron.

Samuel returned from the war and went to college to pursue a career as a teacher. He attained a bachelor's degree at Utah State University and a master's degree at Arizona State University before acting as an instructor and involved youth advocate on school boards and committees.

"He advocated for the youth to get their education," said Yvonne Tso, Samuel's daughter.

Sharing the significance of the Navajo language became Samuel's mission up until his final days. His family hopes to honor his legacy by continuing his efforts to build the National Navajo Code Talkers Museum and Veterans Center to be constructed in Window Rock, Ariz.

"When I talked to my dad, I told him I would make his dream a reality," said Yvonne.

The Navajo language was used in the Pacific theater in WWII to confound Japanese codebreakers- throughtout the war, the Japanese were unable to decipher the communications being sent in the Navajo language. So effective were the Code talkers that the program remained classified for another 20 years in the event that a similar cipher program could be used in another armed conflict.

The program was declassified in 1968, and with the program no longer a state secret the Navajo Codel Talker's Association was formed a few years later in the early 1970s. Since then the Navy has even archived the Code Talker's Dictionary online.

Samuel's daughter Yvonne said that he had hoped to live long enough to see the completion of the proposed Navajo Code Talker's Museum and Veteran's Center in Window Rock, AZ completed. Currently, one of the largest exhibits on the Navajo reservation relating to the Code Talkers is presently located at a Burger King run by the son of one of the Code Talkers in Kayenta, AZ.

Donations made on behalf of Samuel Tso for the nascent Code Talker's museum can be made either online at the Code Talker's Association website or by regular mail at P.O. BOX 1266, Window Rock, AZ 86515.

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.

August 14- Navajo Code Talkers Day

Navajo Code Talker Joe Morris Sr in 2007 photo

Twenty nine years ago yesterday, President Ronald Reagan issued a proclamation that August 14 be known as Navajo Code Talkers Day. This was among the first official acts of recognition since the program was declassified in 1968.

"Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby designate August 14, 1982, as National Navaho Code Talkers Day, a day dedicated to all members of the Navaho Nation and to all Native Americans who gave of their special talents and their lives so that others might live. I ask the American people to join me in this tribute, and I call upon Federal, State and local officials to commemorate this day with appropriate activities."

[Sorry I'm a day behind with this, by the way- NANESB!]

At the outbreak of WWII, it was believed that there were no more than 30 non-Navajo people in the world familiar with the language- none of them Japanese.

Sensing an opportunity to confound Japanese eavesdroppers, in 1942 Marine Corps brass began gathering and training Navajo recruits to create and communicate a code in their native Navajo tongue. Throughout the war, Imperial Japanese military cryptographers were never able to decipher the Navajo's code. However, after the war, the program remained secret and the departing Navajo recruits were sworn to secrecy until the Code Talker project was declassified in 1968.

The Code Talkers participated in nearly every Marine assault in the pacific theater between 1942 and 1945. To this day, the Navajo Code Talkers proved to be the most effective known means of encrypted communication in modern warfare.

On Sunday, July 17th Code Talker Joe Morris Sr passed away at age 85 from complications due to a stroke at the VA Medical Center in Loma Linda, CA.

Morris had just turned 17 and was working in an Arizona mine when he was drafted in 1943. He credited a Navajo medicine man that also worked in the mine with keeping him safe throughout the war, saying that the shaman prayed a day and a half for his safety. After the war, Morris married and settled in Dagget, CA where he had a civilian job with a Marine supply center until he retired in 1984.

Joe Morris Sr is survived by his wife of 61 years, two sons, a daughter, three brothers and three grandchildren.

Original Navajo Code Talker Passes Away in Arizona

Allen Dale June, one of the first 29 Navajo Code Talkers in WWII, passed away at a Veteran's Assistance center in Prescott, AZ at the age of 91.

Saying that there was nothing to do on the 'rez', June joined the Marine Corps at age 16 after lying about his age to a recruiter.

The Code Talkers were used to send encrypted messages by transmitting and receiving them in their native Navajo language in the Pacific Theater. Throughout the course of the war, the Japanese were never able decipher the transmissions. According to June's widow, the Marine Corps Sargent participated in a number of battles and crossed the equator eight times, leapfrogging from island to island in the Pacific.

After the war, June got his master's degree and worked as an accountant. He leaves behind 10 children from three wives.

Navajo Tribe Mourns the Passing of WWII Vet & Code Talker

WWII Vet and Code Talker Willard V Oliver passed away earlier this month at the Northern Arizona VA Hospital in Prescott, AZ. He was 88.

For those of you who may not know, Oliver was one of about 400 Navajo servicemen recruited in World War II to broadcast messages in the Navajo language in order to successfully confound Japanese codebreakers monitoring communications. The program wasn't declassified until 1968.

Reflecting on his service, Mr. Oliver had this to say in a 2001 interview:

"I did not realize that until the code talkers were recognized that all the victories back during the war came about because of our Diné language," he said.

"Sometimes I think about it," he said. "Why did the government want to use our language when throughout BIA school we would get our mouth washed out with soap when they caught us speaking Navajo?

"I am proud to be a code talker," he said. "And I know we counted for something great, and that we fought to maintain our freedom and for our sacred land."

After the war, Oliver worked as a carpenter, construction worker, hired on with both the Union Pacific and Santa Fe Railroads and was a policeman and ambulance driver in Fort Defiance, AZ. Willard's brother Lloyd, also a Code Talker, accompanied him to a 2001 ceremony in Washington DC where they and other Code Talkers were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by President Bush.

On Nov. 21, 2001 Willard Oliver was awarded the Congressional Silver Medal in a ceremony in Window Rock, AZ.