FReeper Canteen ~ Allen Dale June, Code Talker ~ 19 October 2015

Serving The Best Troops and Veterans In The World !! | StarCMC and The Canteen Crew

[Kathy in Alaska]

 

Our Troops Rock!  Thank you for all you do!

For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.

Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!

---

~ Hall of Heroes ~

Allen Dale June

           

From July 6, 2006

DRAPER -- Retired Marine Sgt. Allen Dale June, 84, doesn't say much about his experience as a Navajo Code Talker in World War II.

During an appearance Wednesday at the Utah National Guard headquarters, a child asked June if he had ever been in a submarine.

"I saw it," was all June replied, which was followed by chuckles among the estimated 150 audience members, most of whom were wearing camouflage.

Sgt. 1st Class Sam Galbraith, 54, and his son, Sgt. Joe Galbraith, 26, both of whom are Navajo and full-time Utah Guard members, were introduced to June. The elder Galbraith called it an honor and privilege to meet him.

"It's very meaningful to me," Sam Galbraith said.

Retired Army Lt. Col. Daniel Hudson dubbed June a "living legend." But for 23 years after World War II, June and others from the 29 original members of the Navajo Code Talkers were told to keep quiet about their experience, for national securityreasons.

"This was a tremendous stress and strain on them," said Hudson, who gave Guard members a presentation Wednesday on Code Talkers.

By 1968, government officials had lifted the curtain of secrecy to reveal the war contributions of this elite group of American Indian soldiers, which included at least one other tribe. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan named Aug. 14 "National Code Talkers Day."

Charles Chibitty, the sole surviving member of the 17-member Comanche Code Talkers, was given the Knowlton Award in 1999, in recognition of his intelligence work in the Army Signal Corps in Europe during World War II.

President Bush in 2001 presented June and other Navajo Code Talkers with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award given by Congress. But to this day, June chooses to remain mostly silent on his war experiences.

June and his wife, Virginia, once West Valley City residents, now live in Longmont, Colo., north of Denver. Virginia does most of the talking for her husband.

"He was quiet," she said about the 23 years of imposed silence. And he's quiet now, she added, describing life these days as "smooth sailing."

The Junes walk about three to five miles every day. They make appearances when asked. And they were in Utah this week to help dedicate a war monument in West Jordan.

During the war, June was part of a group that helped the United States win the "war of words" with the Japanese. Code Talkers used their native language to communicate messages between U.S. troops.

The Navajo word for tortoise, for example, would have been used to identify the presence of an enemy tank. A single word with different voice inflections could have been used to mean several different things to a Code Talker.

It was a code unbreakable by the Japanese, although they tried.

June served uninjured in the Marines from 1942 to 1945. It was a time when in this country, Navajo Indians were sometimes punished for speaking their native language.

Virginia said her husband joined the Marines because there was nothing to do on the reservation. But he also wanted to serve his country and represent his tribe.

In the military, June and other Navajo Indians faced marked cultural differences and bigotry within their own ranks, Hudson pointed out. Even so, June's ability to speak what his wife says is now a dying language helped Marines stay a step ahead of the enemy on the battlefield in Japan.

Today, June is one of two Navajo Code Talkers still alive. The other, Samuel Tso, lives in Arizona.

"I just think it's great to teach people about what happened," Joe Galbraith said about June's appearance. "It's unfortunate there's not more Code Talkers around."

~ Stephen Speckman

 

On September 10, 2010 Mr. June passed away at the age of 91.  From the AP story:

June, who attained the rank of sergeant, received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2001 along with other members of the original Code Talkers.

With his death, only two of the 29 are still living.

"The Navajo Nation lost a great warrior," Tribal Council Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan said in a statement. "His unique service to his country brought positive attention to the Navajo Nation. He will be missed."

June first tried to sign up for the Marines in his hometown of Kaibeto on the Navajo Nation, but a recruiter told him he was too young. He then traveled to the reservation town of Chinle to enlist — because he figured people there wouldn't recognize him — and he could lie about his age and forge his father's signature, Virginia June said.

Our nation mourns a hero.

From Wikipedia:

A Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress and is, along with the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Presidential Citizens Medal the highest civilian award in the United States. The decoration is awarded to an individual who performs an outstanding deed or act of service to the security, prosperity, and national interest of the United States. American citizenship is not a requirement.

Please remember the Canteen is here to honor, support and entertain our troops and their families.  This is a politics-free zone!  Thanks for helping us in our mission! 

[SandRat]

[Kathy in Alaska]

Monday already????

Good evening, Sand...((HUGS))...ready to take on a new week? Maddi coming?

Is Charlie home yet?

[ConorMacNessa]

Welcome To All Who Enter This Canteen, To Our Serving Military, To Our Veterans, To All Military Families, To Our FRiends and To Our Allies!



Missing Man Setting

"The Empty Chair"

By Captain Carroll "Lex" Lefon, USN (RET), on December 21st, 2004

"In the wardroom onboard the aircraft carrier from which I recently debarked was a small, round table, with single chair. No one ever sat there, and the reasons, both for the table being there, and for the fact that the chair was always empty, will tell the reader a little bit about who we are as a culture. The wardroom, of course, is where the officers will dine; morning, noon and evening. It is not only a place to eat – it is also a kind of oasis from the sometimes dreary, often difficult exigencies of the service. A place of social discourse, of momentary relief from the burdens of the day. The only things explicitly forbidden by inviolable tradition in the wardroom are the wearing of a cover or sword by an officer not actually on watch, or conversation which touches upon politics or religion. But aboard ships which observe the custom, another implicit taboo concerns the empty chair: No matter how crowded the room, no matter who is waiting to be seated, that chair is never moved, never taken.

The table is by the main entrance to the wardroom. You will see it when you enter, and you will see it when you leave. It draws your eyes because it is meant to. And because it draws your eyes it draws your thoughts. And though it will be there every day for as long as you are at sea, you will look at it every time and your eyes will momentarily grow distant as you think for a moment. As you quietly give thanks.

AS YOU REMEMBER.

The small, round table is covered with a gold linen tablecloth. A single place setting rests there, of fine bone china. A wineglass stands upon the table, inverted, empty. On the dinner plate is a pinch of salt. On the bread plate is a slice of lemon. Besides the plate lies a bible. There is a small vase with a single red rose upon the table. Around the vase is wound a yellow ribbon. There is the empty chair.

We will remember because over the course of our careers, we will have had the opportunity to enjoy many a formal evening of dinner and dancing in the fine company of those with whom we have the honor to serve, and their lovely ladies. And as the night wears on, our faces will in time become flushed with pleasure of each other’s company, with the exertions on the dance floor, with the effects of our libations. But while the feast is still at its best, order will be called to the room – we will be asked to raise our glasses to the empty table, and we will be asked to remember:

The table is round to show our everlasting concern for those who are missing. The single setting reminds us that every one of them went to their fates alone, that every life was unique.

The tablecloth is gold symbolizing the purity of their motives when they answered the call to duty.

The single red rose, displayed in a vase, reminds us of the life of each of the missing, and their loved ones who kept the faith.

The yellow ribbon around the vase symbolizes our continued determination to remember them.

The slice of lemon reminds us of the bitterness of their fate.
The salt symbolizes the tears shed by those who loved them.
The bible represents the faith that sustained them.
The glass is inverted — they cannot share in the toast.
The chair is empty — they are not here. They are missing.

And we will remember, and we will raise our glasses to those who went before us, and who gave all that they had for us. And a part of the flush in our faces will pale as we remember that nothing worth having ever came without a cost. We will remember that many of our brothers and sisters have paid that cost in blood. We will remember that the reckoning is not over.

We many of us will settle with our families into our holiday season, our Christmas season for those who celebrate it, content in our fortune and prosperity. We will meet old friends with smiles and laughter. We will meet our members of our family with hugs. We will eat well, and exchange gifts and raise our glasses to the year passed in gratitude, and to the year to come with hope. We will sleep the sleep of the protected, secure in our homes, secure in our homeland.

But for many families, there will be an empty chair at the table this year. A place that is not filled.

WE SHOULD REMEMBER."

Many Thanks To Alfa6 For Finding Capt. Lefon's Chronicle Of "The Empty Chair."

"Träumerei"
Robert Schumann
(Click)

Never Forget The Brave Men And Women Who
Gave Their Lives To Secure Our Freedom!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Mayor, and thank you for today’s sustenance for body and soul.

Waiting is so hard, no matter what.

[SandRat]

Good evening, Kathy,...((HUGS))...I’m ready to take on a new week?

Maddi comes about 530 tomorrow evening.

Charlie will be home come Friday.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Well hello, moose across the pond.

They code talkers were so good at what they did...the bad guys never caught on.

[HiTech RedNeck]

What would have been needed to do it, short of capturing a talker and getting him to talk. Recordings and linguistic analysis? The wire recorder existed at that point. It was fortunate the system never was cracked though.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Welcome to the Canteen, Twotone. Lots of history, some not so good.

[HiTech RedNeck]

I would have to think here, too few examples for enemy analysts to do anything with. Was this a double level code too, that there was a one time pad involved as well as those translating things to and from the American Indian language? So the same words today did not mean what they did yesterday?

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, bigbob...

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, ML...((HUGS))...they were, for sure, special Marines.

[Kathy in Alaska]

They were very proud of their contribution to the war effort in WW2 as code talkers.

As well they should be.

Good evening, Rodamala, and thank you for sharing your experience.

[Publius]

I heard about your move. I have something to help lift your spirits.

In 1941 the great jazz pianist Donald Lambert wrote a ragtime version of the Pilgrims' Chorus from Wagner's opera "Tannhäuser." It starts out playing it straight, and then...

Lambert: Pilgrims' Chorus

[left that other site]

Thanbk you for that!

It is so cool! ;-)

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Ms Feather...*hugs*...things could have been quite different without the code talker heroes.

Hope you had a great day. The grands been entertaining you lately?

It’s raining here.

[luvie]

...till they all come home....

[Kathy in Alaska]

Me and Garfield...birds of a feather. LOL!

[luvie]

The code talkers have such wonderful stories to tell, and they were men to be admired and looked up to! Thanks, galz, for introducing us to Sgt. June!

[Publius]

I just got back from a Jeremy Denk concert at the University of British Columbia. Jeremy played a number of different ragtime pieces from classical composers and others, starting with Scott Joplin and ending with that Pilgrims' Chorus Rag.

It was an amazing concert.

[luvie]

Welcome from the Permian Basin...at least YOU got to leave when the work was done! I seem to be stuck here! LOL!

Great story of the Navajos from AZ!