Navajo Code Talkers.

[1938 Observer]

Navajo code talker dies in Arizona


Jan. 4, 2012 12:23 PM
aap.


FLAGSTAFF -- Keith Little, one of the most recognizable of the remaining Navajo Code Talkers and a vocal proponent for a museum to tell their story, has died.

Little died Tuesday night at a Fort Defiance hospital, according to the Navajo Code Talkers Association. He was 87.




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."

Little's health had been deteriorating over the past year, as he went in and out of hospitals between speaking engagements and appearances in parades -- the last time in New York in November for Veterans Day, the association said. He was the longtime president of the Navajo Code Talker Association until his death.

Little was among the most vocal of the remaining Code Talkers, always preaching about the preservation of the Navajo traditions, culture and the language that the federal government tried to eradicate before he and others were called on to use it during the war. Little traveled the country advocating for a museum near Window Rock that would house World War II memorabilia, tell the stories of his colleagues, and serve as a haven for veterans.

It was a story he never tired of telling, association secretary Yvonne Murphy said.

"That was his life. That was the drive behind him," Murphy said Wednesday. "It didn't matter where he was. If there were people who came and wanted to sit and talk with him, he would share with them."

A video on the association's website features Little speaking about the importance of the unbreakable code. Fellow platoon members referred to the Navajos as "walking secret codes," with each written message having to be memorized and destroyed after it was sent or received, Little says.

"That is something that in itself was marvelous," Little said in the AP interview. "It was so proficient and safe."

A public memorial is planned for Friday in Window Rock, with funeral services scheduled Saturday in nearby Fort Defiance. Navajo President Ben Shelly has ordered flags lowered across the reservation from Thursday through Sunday in Little's honor.

His wife, Nellie, said she is committed to seeing the museum project come to fruition and asked that donations be made to help build it, instead of sending flowers



Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...#ixzz1iYULDgpk

[1938 Observer]

the code talker story


It is a great American story that is still largely unknown—the story of a group of young Navajo men who answered the call of duty, who performed a service no one else could, and in the process became great warriors and patriots. Their unbreakable code saved thousands of lives and helped end WWII.

The Official Site of the Navajo Code Talkers.


Very interesting and worthwhile reading. http://www.navajocodetalkers.org/code_talker_story/

[1938 Observer]

The Navajo Code Talkers, Our Heroes

This was shown in the House of Representatives at the Arizona State Capital during the Navajo Code Talker Monument dedication on Feb 28, 2008.

[Ranald]

Very good tribute to those men who used their language in such a successful way.

There is a 'story' (I have not yet confirmed) of two west highlanders, stopped by the Germans in Europe during WW ll.

They are said to have conversed with each other in Gaelic. Iit was not understood by their captors who, presuming it was a European language, let the go on their way.

Ranald

[1938 Observer]

Very good tribute to those men who used their language in such a successful way.

There is a 'story' (I have not yet confirmed) of two west highlanders, stopped by the Germans in Europe during WW ll.

They are said to have conversed with each other in Gaelic. Iit was not understood by their captors who, presuming it was a European language, let the go on their way.

Ranald

Ranald,

I have actually read that story and I believe it was true, the reference for it eludes me at the moment, possibly I read it some time ago in "Scots Magazine"

Gordon.

[Ranald]

Gordon

To date I have found a 'reference' to the escape at the following site. I will try and find out more.

http://forargyll.com/2010/06/mather-...caux/#comments

Ranald