Hundreds were recruited from the vast Navajo Nation to serve as Code Talkers with the U.S. Marine Corps. Only three are still alive today: Peter MacDonald, John Kinsel Sr. and Thomas H. Begay.
In this 2013 photo, Navajo Code Talker Samuel Sandoval talks about his experiences in the military in Cortez, Colo. Sandoval, one of the last remaining Navajo Code Talkers who transmitted messages in World War II using a code based on their native language, has died at age 98. Sandoval died late Friday, July 29, 2022, at a hospital in Shiprock, N.M., his wife, Malula told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Samuel Sandoval was on Okinawa when got word from another Navajo Code Talker that the Japanese had surrendered and relayed the message to higher-ups. He had a close call on the island, which brought back painful memories that he kept to himself, Malula Sandoval said. Sandoval served in five combat tours and was honorably discharged in 1946. The Code Talkers had orders not to discuss their roles — not during the war and not until their mission was declassified in 1968.
“It was engrained early in me, to be part of the community,” she said. “He was really involved in a lot, some of which I couldn’t comprehend as a kid.”
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