Smoke signals., April 01, 2007, Page 6, Image 6

Smoke Signals
Grand Ronde Honor Guard and Dayton High School Honor Veterans
6 APRIL 1,2007
VETERANS continued
from front page
that was followed by a morning of
breakout sessions where Veterans
had an opportunity to tell students,
faculty, and guests about their ex
periences in battle.
In one of the breakout sessions,
the students listened intently, as
Sandoval talked about his experi
ences as a Navajo Code Talker in
World War II.
"I learned and spoke the Navajo
language at a very young age,"
said Sandoval. "At age five I was
enrolled in a boarding school that
was sponsored by United Meth
odist Church. On the first day of
school I was told that I was no
longer allowed to speak a word
of Navajo. I was told that there
would be consequences to pay if I
was caught. Every once in a while
we would sneak away and speak
Navajo. I was lucky; I never got
caught."
In 1912, after he graduated from
high school, Sandoval began work
ing. He was told that he could not
register as a U.S. citizen because
he was Indian, but he was allowed
to sign up with the service.
When the word went out that
the Marine Corps were looking for
young Navajo boys between the
ages of 17-30, with a 10th grade
education, and were fluent speak
ers of the Navaho and English lan
guages, Sandoval qualified.
"They gathered all the boys on
the Navajo res
ervation. There
were 413 Na
vajos that were
trained as code
talkers during
the war. About
135 were actu
ally in the thick
of the battle, but
there were only
about 60 Code
Talkers that
survived the
war," he said.
"In 1864, the
Navajo Tribe
was driven
away from their
homes by the
U.S. Military.
They forced to
walk about 400
miles. They
were taken cap
tive and forced
to southeast
New Mexico.
The military
forces burned
their crops, their
homes ... What
was I doing in
the military?
There were 500 "
other Tribes,
why use the Navajo language? I
had a lot of questions about this,
but it had a positive outcome.
The Japanese military were de
ciphering every military message
the U.S. troops were sending. The
codes they sent were changed, but
still the Japanese de-coded their
messages. They knew where the
troops were; they knew where the
next invasion would be. They were
ready for us," Sandoval said.
The Navajo had an unwritten lan
guage, and the Code was different
from the everyday language. They
took Navajo words and developed
them into military terminology
for ships, airplanes, equipment,
bombs, and personnel. They in
cluded everything they needed
to develop the Code and make a
dictionary.
The Navajo didn't have a word
for bomb in their language, so they
had to think back in their every day
lives to determine what could rep
resent a bomb. They chose an egg,
so egg (A-Ye-Shi) became a bomb.
A hand grenade looked similar to a
potato, so they used potato (Ni-Ma-Si)
to represent a hand grenade.
They used turtle (Chay-Da-Gahi)
to represent a tank because it was
slow like a turtle.
They developed a system to in
clude punctuation and form sen
tences. For example, if they wanted
to ask a question they ended the
sentence with the word ear (Ah
Jah) because an ear looked similar
to a question mark.
"That's the way we wrote the
Code, and that code has never been
broken. When we left the war, we
were told to never talk about it
with anybody, but in 1968 it was
de-classified. That's why I can talk
about it today.
In 1982, President Ronald Regan
declared that August 14th would
become the national Navajo Code
" :i n II r IT
. l : ! ! t V
' r l ; !( -j j
" ' , .5 I ! n
r uW ' I ' I "
: V I y t I i v
'a k: i ) i
v H I 'j- uQj 'i
I i(H f U
: ' ! H X
Alex Mathews, (I) member of Pawnee Nation, World War II POW and survivor
of the Bataan Death March and Samuel Sandoval, World War II Navajo Code
Talker spoke about their experiences during service.
from Brooklyn.
We would go out at night and he
would always be running into trees
and bushes and would stumble over
roots. I had a hard time with him. I
had more problems with him then I
did the Japanese. Anyway, he was
my body guard, but I didn't know
that. He carried a side arm, a .45
On Sunday, March 18, Dee Odem, (in white) Grand Ronde Honor Guard, gives a medallion of honor to Alex Mathews,
World War II POW and survivor of Bataan Death March. Approximately 1 25 Veterans from World War II, Vietnam, and the
Korean War visited the Grand Ronde Veterans Memorial where each were presented a medallian of honor.
talkers day. That was the first rec
ognition we ever received.
In combat I carried my rifle, my
field radio, and a field telephone.
I had a white man always tailing
me; he was always around. I got
used to him and it didn't bother
me. It was later in the war that a
friend of mine asked me if I knew
who that guy was. I said yes, he's
caliber. That pistol was for me in
the event that I got captured. Lucky
for me, I'm still here.
When the war was over they said
we could go home, but they called
me in. They said they wanted to
talk to me. They gave me a piece of
paper and a pen and said I had to
sign the papers to go home. I asked
if I could read them. ... The papers
were for re-enlistment of four more
years; it's a good thing I can read.
I handed them the pen and paper
and said you can keep them; I don't
want them," Sandoval said.
At the same time Laf Keaton,
a Paratrooper, Ranger, and Air
borne Soldier of World War II,
Korea, and Vietnam, talked of his
experiences in
the many battles
he encountered.
He recalled an
experience in a
Japanese prison
camp, and spoke
about a little girl
who learned the
hard way about
displeasing the
Japanese.
After lunch,
the students held
an "Assembly of
Honor" for the
Veterans. The
ceremony began
with students,
faculty, and
guests giving a
standing ovation
as a procession
of Veterans en
tered the audi
torium to take
their seats. This
was followed by
the Grand Ronde
Honor Guard
posting the col
ors and Coyote
Creek drum
ming them in.
"It was mind
boggling to be
a part of that ceremony. There
was just so much experience and
years of military life there. And
for them to come back and form
a group to attend a meeting of
this sort without holding grudges,
shows that there is peace even
after this many years, said La
Bonte." "We get invited to a lot
of events. You think you've done