{"id":26101,"date":"2024-08-15T12:05:40","date_gmt":"2024-08-15T18:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/former-tribal-chairman-and-code-talker-says-language-must-be-preserved\/"},"modified":"2024-08-15T18:05:40","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T18:05:40","slug":"former-tribal-chairman-and-code-talker-says-language-must-be-preserved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/former-tribal-chairman-and-code-talker-says-language-must-be-preserved\/","title":{"rendered":"Former tribal chairman and Code Talker says \u2018language must be preserved\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Former
Former Navajo Tribal Chairman and Navajo Code Talker Peter MacDonald, 96, tells of the valor of Navajo Code Talkers and the ingenuity of the Navajo code they developed and used in the South Pacific. He was among three remaining Code Talkers to be honored by proclamation by President Buu Nygren, Speaker Curley and Chief Justice JoAnn Jayne during Navajo Code Talkers Day on Wednesday, Aug. 14. Joining them on stage was Vietnam Veteran Henry Tsosie. (Courtesy of the Office of Navajo Nation President)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. \u00ad\u2013 In a news release from the office of the Navajo Nation President, a proclamation was signed Wednesday, Aug. 14 to declare the date as Navajo Code Talker Day.<\/p>\n

Navajo President Buu Nygren, Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley and Navajo Nation Supreme Court Chief Justice JoAnn Jayne commemorated the date to the attending 600 people.<\/p>\n

In attendance was a three-star general of the U.S. Marine Corps, a congressman and dignitaries paid homage to the three remaining Navajo Code Talkers and the legendary memory of the 400 Code Talkers who used the Navajo language as a secret weapon during World War II.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur language is sacred,\u201d Nygren said in the Navajo language at the Navajo Nation Fairgrounds Wednesday during a day full of celebratory events.<\/p>\n

\u201cSay thank you to our three remaining Code Talkers as they are aging,\u201d he said. \u201cTheir hearts will appreciate the \u2018thank you.\u2019 As Navajo people, we always say what we say is very sacred and holy. So the message I was conveying in Navajo was that wherever our three Code Talkers are, we want to say thank you to them, and the Holy Beings will relay that message to them into their hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the three \u2013 John Kinsel 107, Thomas Begay, 99 and Peter MacDonald, 96 \u2013 only former Navajo Tribal Chairman Peter MacDonald could attend.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver 200 Navajo Code Talkers participated in the Iwo Jima landing,\u201d MacDonald said. \u201cI want to thank all of you here today to honor those 400 Code Talkers. We used a weapon that the enemy could not decipher, a weapon not even Navajos here on the reservation would know what in the world we were talking about in the Navajo code.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Navajo Code Talkers, all veterans and those now serving in uniform are due respect and honor for their courage, sacrifice and dedication to preserve freedom and democracy for all,\u201d the proclamation states.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call upon all citizens to celebrate the sacred Din\u00e9 language as a living language for future generations of Navajos,\u201d it reads.<\/p>\n

By the end of World War II, the Navajo code was up to 800 Navajo words. It remained classified until 1968, and Code Talkers kept their secret long past that decade.<\/p>\n

\"Keynote
Keynote speaker Lt. General Michael S. Cederholm, Commanding General of 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, visited with President Nygren before meeting with the Young Marines at the statue of the Navajo Code Talker in the Navajo Nation Veterans Memorial Park. (Courtesy of the Office of Navajo Nation President)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Keynote speaker Lt. General Michael S. Cederholm, Commanding General of 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, explained that the initial concept for Code Talkers was born in France during World War I. He said Choctaw, Cheyenne, Comanche, Cherokee, Osage and Yankton Sioux soldiers were recruited to transmit messages that relayed troop movements and tactical plans.<\/p>\n

That led to immediate gains on the battlefield during World War II, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCode Talkers served in the U.S. Army in historic battles in Europe and North Africa to include Utah Beach during D-Day,\u201d said Cederholm. \u201cI would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the resourcefulness of our Army brethren and the global scope of the Native American contributions to winning that terrible war and returning peace to our great world today.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said today\u2019s event truly honored the remarkable accomplishment of the Navajo Code Talkers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough their selfless sacrifice, through their heroism, their ingenuity established a legacy that is woven into the very fabric of our nation\u2019s history and into our uniforms, and indelibly linked with what it means to be a United States Marine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The initial 29 Navajo Code Talkers developed an unbreakable code using the rich and complex Navajo language, Cederholm said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe code they created gave the Marine Corps a critical capability to communicate as they closed with and destroyed the enemy in historic battles such as Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Tarawa, Peleliu, Saipan and Iwo Jima,\u201d he said. \u201cThey served in all six Marine divisions, Marine Raider battalions and Marine parachute members, transmitting information on enemy troop movements and tactics, official orders and other information vital to the Marine Corps success on the battlefield.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Arizona\u2019s
Arizona\u2019s District 2 Congressman and Navy SEAL Eli Crane visited with active duty and veteran servicemen and women from four military branches in Window Rock during Navajo Code Talkers Day on Wednesday. (Courtesy of the Office of the Navajo Nation President)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

For information or inquiries, contact the Navajo Nation Fair Office at nnfair@navajo-nsn.gov<\/a> or (928) 810-5799.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018Our language is sacred,\u2019 says Navajo President Buu Nygren<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1240,1222,799,28,1241],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-aztec","tag-bloomfield","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-kirtland"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26101"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}