and other Native soldiers speaking in their languages as code—many from high ranking military officers—appeared just after the First World War and reports about Comanche, Meskwaki, Chippewa, Oneida, Lakota and Navajo code-crafting troops circulated before, during and after World War II. While great efforts were made to conceal the Marines’ Navajo Program, more than 45 sources mention it between 1943 and 1968, when it was offi- cially declassified. Multiple Marine Corps news releases in 1945 suggest that while the subject of Navajo code talkers was no longer classified by the war’s end, the Navajo code book and alphabets remained classified until 1968. While some groups of code talkers have been


honored in their respective communities and states, decades passed since the end of World War II before they were honored on a national level. The Honoring the Navajo Code Talk- ers Act of 2000 bestowed gold Congressional Medals for the first 29 Navajo Code Talkers and silver Congressional Medals for the others. The Code Talkers Recognition Act of 2008 provided a gold Congressional Medal for each tribe and a silver for each surviving code talker or their family. Choctaw Code Talker Association Presi- dent Nuchi Nashoba says, “It was an incredible moment. I can’t put into words the pride we felt. Those men deserve to be honored.” As of now, only four Navajo code talkers


are known to survive—Thomas Begay, John Kinsel, Peter MacDonald and Samuel Sando- val. However, the legacy of Native American code talkers lives on through the unique con- tributions they made with their Indigenous languages—the countless lives they saved by helping to shorten both World Wars as well as the pride and cultural history that continues in their respective communities and the nations they defended. Reflecting on the contributions of her fa-


ther and the other Hopi code talkers, Rosa Ho- nani (Hopi) says we should “be proud of our code talkers … because as small of a group as they were, they were part of the defeat [of the Japanese]” and that they are indicative of the “importance of keeping our language alive.” “There were thousands and thousands of


soldiers that got killed,” said Chibitty. “If what little we did saved some of those lives, then I’m proud I was a part of it. … We did something, to use our language. … I was glad that I could do that for the country. … And we’d probably do it again if we have to, even at our age.” X


William C. Meadows is a professor of Anthropology and Native American Studies at Missouri State University. His testimony to the U.S. Senate helped pass the Code Talkers Recognition Act of 2008.


Marine Corps Sgt. Major Ronald L. Green (left) greeted Navajo code talker Samuel T. Holiday during the Reunion of Honor ceremony held on Iwo Jima, Japan, in 2015, to honor American and Japanese World War II veterans and their families.


A NEARLY DEADLY CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY


During World War II, U.S. Marines and Army troops mistook several of the Navajo code talkers who served in the Pacific as Japanese and captured them. Navajo code talker Samuel T. Holiday was just 19 years old when he and his 4th Marine Division landed with the second wave at Saipan in June 1944. When his boat was overturned, he almost drowned in the surf. Barely conscious and unable to rise out of the water’s edge he was pulled out by another Marine. The next day a Japanese artillery shell landed close to Holiday as he moved inland. The explosion threw him through the air, knocked him out and nearly buried him in the sand. Damaging one of his ear drums, the concussion left him with considerable pain, dizziness, numbness and ringing in his head. He soon developed a fever. Not wanting to leave his post, he persevered, continuing to send and relay messages


to other units. Returning from sending a message, members of his unit informed him of some shell holes full of water in the rear that were secure and that they had just bathed in. They encouraged Holiday to take advantage of them. Thinking it would feel good to pour water over his pounding head, he made his way there. As he stripped down and entered the shell hole, the last of the other Marines were


just leaving. Soon military police detaining a Japanese prisoner passed by. Not real- izing he now looked exactly like the Japanese prisoners, he suddenly felt a bayonet in his lower back and an order in Japanese to “Get out of the water, Jap.” Holiday was in shock and thinking it might have been a Japanese, quickly turned around to find that “They had the bayonet right between my eyes. I said, ‘I’m PFC Samuel T. Holiday. I’m one of the Marines!’” Despite identifying his unit, the Marine did not believe him and continued to poke him with his bayonet and lead him toward the Japanese prisoners. Luckily another unit member recognized him, and after that soldier and finally their captain intervened, Holiday was released. As Holiday reflected about fighting against the Japanese: “They were just young


guys, and they really looked like Navajos.” After several similar instances occurred, non-Native bodyguards were assigned to some Navajo to prevent their misiden- tification and capture. Despite being mistaken again later, he participated in the invasions of Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima before returning home to the Navajo Reservation in the fall of 1945. He was honored for his service at several events before his death in 2018 at 94 years of age.


SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 17


PHOTO BY SGT. GABRIELA GARCIA, U.S. MARINE CORPS


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