Sam is a Navajo Code Talker having served in World War II with the
Fourth Marine Division, 25th Regiment, H&S Company. He participated in the
campaigns on the islands of Roi-Namur, Tinian, Saipan, and Iwo
Jima.
I set up this page to honor my father who helped to win the war in
the Pacific. His dedication to the Marine Corp and the oath he took in keeping
the secret about the Navajo code was foremost. Misunderstood for most of his
adult life, he struggled within himself to tell his story. Not only regarding
what he experienced during the war, but also of the pain and suffering he
endured after the war to this day from a bomb blast on Iwo Jima.
My
father is from the Tódich'ii nii Clan (Bitter Water) and born into the
Bít ähníí Clan (His Leaves, also Leaf Clan, also
Under his cover). His maternal grandparents are Tsin-nah-ji-nee (Tree With
Black Streaks) and paternal grandparents are Tle-zi-tlani (Many Goats). His
parents were Billy Holiday and Bessie Yellow. He was born in a hogan near
Monument Valley, Utah. He now resides in Kayenta Arizona. The Native American
Church (NAC) eased most of his suffering. He now practices the NAC way of
healing.
It is the Dine tradition that when a warrior returns from war
he is to go through a cleansing ceremony. Because of the promise he made to the
US Government about keeping his role in the war a secret, it took him some time
to have the ceremony done. In order for him to have the cleansing ceremony, he
had to let go of the secret, which he never did until 1969. It was at that time
that his friend Nick Stanley who served with my father invited him to attend a
reunion for the Fourth Marine Division in Chicago, Illinois. Lee Cannon got the
idea of honoring my father and Dan Akee (also of the 4th Marines and my
father's partner through most of the war) for being Navajo Code Talkers. My
father did not feel right about the idea of only Dan and him being honored.
There were many others. Finally Mr. Cannon contacted other Navajo Code Talkers
through the Navajo Times and invited them to the reunion.
My father did
not even tell us, his children, about his role in the war. When Mr. Cannon
visited us and after the top-secret status of the Code Talkers was lifted, my
father's and the Code Talkers' story could now be told. How the Code Talkers
transmitted hundreds of messages with 100% accuracy and without the code ever
being deciphered. I am very proud and respectful of my father. I honor him as
often as possible by telling people about him and the Navajo Code
Talkers.
Check Out A Couple Of These Links:
Traditions 2001 |
Dad's Page | Past
Traditions | Meet My
Friends
Board Members |
My Family |
Native
Links |
Guestbook
|
Main Page |
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