The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Navajo CodeTalkers - Dec 21st, 2002

http://bingaman.senate.gov/code_talkers/ ^

[SAMWolf]

Good Morning. Same here. I'm off till Jan 2. Sure feels good doesn't it?

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for the link. I wasn't aware of the Comanche codetalkers in Europe. I knew about the Choctaw in WWI and the Navajos.

Thanks for the education.

[Aeronaut]

Good Morning Jen.

[gitmo]

Excellent thread!
I always get choked up when I visit the Foxhole.

[The Real Deal]

Thanks for the link TGYC. Don't you just love the foxhole?

[The Real Deal]

Morning Jen, I didn't think you would be here today.

[The Real Deal]

Thanks for the heart warming link this am.

[The Real Deal]

Thanks for the post. I don't think that GWB will let us down. He is a good man.

[The Real Deal]

Bill Clinton isn't worthy to be in the same room with them, in my opinion.

Truer words were never spoken. Good Moring DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet.

[JAWs]

Comanche code talkers also served. Additionally, Choctaw code talkers were used as far back as WW1.

[The Real Deal]

Sam, you guy are doing a wonderful job. The Foxhole is one of the best places to be on the net. IMNTBHO!!!!!

[The Real Deal]

You're too generous, IMHO the Clintons aren't worthy to live in the same country as these men.

Right again!!!!

[SAMWolf]

Thanks Gitmo. It means were doing it right, then.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for the excellent links. Top of the world ma also provided a link. I learned something new, I wasn't aware of the Comanche Code talkers before.

[The Real Deal]

DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet, thanks I was wondering how historically correct that movie was. I didn't think it was a great movie, but I kind of liked it.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks. The others who post here and share their stories or provide links and additional info help make the Foxhole work.

[The Real Deal]

Thanks for the link, more Hero's.

[SAMWolf]

Navajo Codetalkers

Noumea
Aug 17, 1943
Photog: Salvatore Gatto, 1st Raider

JAPANESE COULDN'T DECIPHER THEIR "CODE"
Three of the Navajo Marines who served with the Marine Raiders on New Georgia as communicators, sending battlefront messages in the Navajo language, which the Japanese found impossible to decode. Left to right, they are: Private First Class Edmond John of Shiprock, New Mexico; Private First Class Wilsie H. Bitsie, Mexican Springs, New Mexico, and Private First Class Eugene R. Crawford of Chinle, Arizona.


Hawaii
5 Mar 48
Pearl Harbor, T.H. -- Marine Corporal William D. Yazzie, son of Mrs. Paul Wilson of Shiprock, N.M., is congratulated by Major General Samuel L. Howard, commander of Marine Garrison Forces, Pacific, who presented the Corporal with a temporary certificate in lieu of the bronze rifle medal which he won in the Pacific Division rifle and pistol matches held recently at Puuloa Point rifle range on the island of Oahu. Corporal Yazzie, who had been stationed Tsingtao, China, fired in competition with nearly 100 other Marine shooters from units throughout the Pacific. A veteran of three Pacific campaigns, Cpl. Yazzie enlisted in the Marine Corps in May 1941.


Enroute to Okinawa
3/31/45
Photog: CSP Zerbe (NAVY)

MARINE RADIO MESSENGERS -- (L to R) Private First Class Hosteen Kelwood, Private Floyd Saupitty and Private First Class Alex Williams are on their way to the Japanese war front. PFCs Williams and Kelwood are Navajos and Private Saupitty, a Comanche. They are veterans of Peleliu.


20 Nov 1944
NAVAJOS AT PELELIU
Navajos from Arizona played an important part in maintaining communication at Peleliu. They are, front row, left to right: PFC Billy Cleveland, of Red Lake, Fort Defiance; PFC Nelson A. Brown, of Thunderbird Ranch, Chinle; PFC Alfred Tah of Chinle; PFC San Tsosie, of Star Route, Winslow; PFC Alex Williams, of Leupp. Rear row, left to right: PFC Dennis Cattlechaser, of Tuba City; PFC Thomas Claw, of Chinle; PFC Joe H. Kellwood, of Steamboat Canyon, Ganado; PFC Carl Crawford, of Ganado; PFC Wallace Peshlakai, of Twin Peaks; PFC Layton Paddock, of Winslow. In the foreground, commending them for their work is Marine Lieutenant Colonel James C. Smith, First Marine Division Signal Officer.

[The Real Deal]

Good Morning. Same here. I'm off till Jan 2. Sure feels good doesn't it?

Well Sam, it's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it.

[SAMWolf]

Navajo Codetalkers

Guadalcanal
Aug 1943

GUADALCANAL WASHDAY -- On the banks of the famous Tenaru River, where some of the bloodiest fighting of the South Pacific War took place last year, Private First Class LeRoy John, 20, a member of U.S. Marine Corps, presents an incongruously placid picture as he goes through that domestic task of washing clothes with a hand operated "state-side" washing machine. This photo was taken a year after the first Marines landed here and is indicative of the completeness with which Marines have secured this island against any possible Japanese threat to retake it. John is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Eticitty Begay of Shiprock, New Mexico.


1st MarDiv
Okinawa
4/6/1945

Private Jimmy D. Benallie stands in front of a shop beneath a Japanese sign.


Pearl Harbor
2 Mar 47
PEARL HARBOR, T.H. (Delayed) - Marine Privates First Class Alec E. Nez, Flagstaff, Ariz., left, and William D. Yazzie, Shiprock, N.M., recently participated in the Marine Corps Pacific Division Rifle and pistol matches at Puuloa Point, T.H. Both Marines fired a total score of 545 out of a possible six hundred, but Yazzie fired a higher score the second day and placed third while Nez placed fourth. Yazzie received a gold medal, Nez the first silver medal. The presentations were made by Brigadier General H. D. Linscott, Commanding General, Marine Garrison Forces, Pacific. Yazzie and Nez were two of the men chosen to represent the First Marine Division in the San Diego and Quantico, Va., matches


Navajo communications men with the Marines on Saipan landed with the first assault waves to hit the beach. Left to right: Cpl. Oscar B. Iithma of Gallup, N.M., Pfc. Jack Nez of Fort Defiance, Arizona, and Pfc. Carl C. Gorman, Chinle, Arizona.