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Talking WWII in English and DinÇ

by Matt Gomez

Daily Lobo

Three former Navajo Code Talkers shared their memories, experiences and thoughts on the Navajo involvement in World War II on Wednesday at the Hibben Center.

Nancy Montoya, administrator of the Department of Linguistics, coordinated the event as part of the 35-year anniversary of Navajo/DinÇ language instruction at UNM. Some of the event was spoken in Navajo.

Linguistics instructor Roseann Willink was also involved in the event, and said it was held on Dec. 7 in memory of the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

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Samuel Smith, a former Code Talker, said he joined the military after he heard about the attacks on Pearl Harbor. "I started thinking about getting even with the Japanese - I sure wanted to get even with them," Smith said. "So I started thinking about joining the Marine Corps."

Smith later talked about his opinion of the state of Navajo language today. Before the language was pure, he said, but now a lot of slang is used.

"The Navajo language was solid - good," Smith said. "It's not anymore. That's how we used the language - in a complete form."

During World War II, more than 400 Code Talkers served in the U.S. Marines, using their language as a code to throw off the Japanese.

According to the Navajo Code Talkers Association Web site, about 30 non-Navajos understood the language at the time of the war.

Samuel Sandoval, a former Code Talker, spoke about how he became involved with the Marines during the war and how the code was developed.

"After I finished high school, I joined the Marines," Sandoval said. "I decided to enlist, not knowing what I was getting into."

Sandoval went on to say that it is a common misconception that a white man developed the code.

"The Navajo boys originated and developed the code ourselves," Sandoval said.

He said the Navajo code has never been broken and was used for its secrecy, accuracy and speed.

The Code Talkers Web site states Morse Code took hours and the Code Talkers were able to transmit messages in minutes, allowing them to save countless lives.

Bill Toledo, another former Code Talker, talked about his experiences during the war and ended his speech by singing the Marine Corps anthem in both English and Navajo.

The event had the largest turnout of all the events in the series held to celebrate the 35th year of Navajo language instruction at UNM, Montoya said. About 75 people attended.

Other speakers in the series included Sunny Dooley, a Navajo storyteller, who came to speak at UNM along with several weavers.

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