thedrifter
05-07-08, 07:46 AM
Navajo 'code talker' shares story in Bend
Posted: May 6, 2008 07:33 PM
Ordered to forget language - then use it to aid America
By Tony Fuller, KTVZ.COM
If you have heard the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, you might find some similarities in the stories of the Navajo code talkers. The small group of Marines rank as American heroes after their language became a crucial weapon during WWII.
They came from a part of society that had been overlooked and neglected by the U.S. government for hundreds of years.
Samuel Tso grew up in a time when the Navajo tribe was relocated to reservation land. Tso was sent to a Indian boarding school and told never to speak his native language.
"It took me a long time to start speaking English," Tso said Tuesday during a visit to Bend to speak at COCC. "But 13 years later, they draft me and told me, 'We need your language.' 'You told us to forget, why now?' 'Because we need your help.'"
Hundreds of Navajos were pulled off their reservation and drafted as Marines. They were told to use their language as a weapon, devise a code that the Japanese couldn't crack.
The Navajo language had never been written down, nor did they have an alphabet. The code that was developed was so complex, even a Navajo wouldn't understand it. These men would soon be known as the Navajo code talkers.
After speaking in Navajo, Tso said, "If you understand the Navajo language and know how to write English, you would write that message, 'Sheep's eyes is cured.' But that coded message doesn't mean that, it means, 'Mount Suribachi is secured.''"
Tso, along with over 400 other Marines known as Navajo code talkers, helped win the war. Today, Tso is often asked why he defended a country that treated his people so poorly for so long. For Tso, he may be on a reservation, but this country still belongs to the Navajo.
"The whole America still belongs to me," he said. "Even though they put me on a reservation, that's how I love my country."
Tso is part of a piece of history that allows Native Americans to take pride in our culture. It's one story that happened off a reservation and offers a unique type of antiquity in United States history.
Ellie
Posted: May 6, 2008 07:33 PM
Ordered to forget language - then use it to aid America
By Tony Fuller, KTVZ.COM
If you have heard the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, you might find some similarities in the stories of the Navajo code talkers. The small group of Marines rank as American heroes after their language became a crucial weapon during WWII.
They came from a part of society that had been overlooked and neglected by the U.S. government for hundreds of years.
Samuel Tso grew up in a time when the Navajo tribe was relocated to reservation land. Tso was sent to a Indian boarding school and told never to speak his native language.
"It took me a long time to start speaking English," Tso said Tuesday during a visit to Bend to speak at COCC. "But 13 years later, they draft me and told me, 'We need your language.' 'You told us to forget, why now?' 'Because we need your help.'"
Hundreds of Navajos were pulled off their reservation and drafted as Marines. They were told to use their language as a weapon, devise a code that the Japanese couldn't crack.
The Navajo language had never been written down, nor did they have an alphabet. The code that was developed was so complex, even a Navajo wouldn't understand it. These men would soon be known as the Navajo code talkers.
After speaking in Navajo, Tso said, "If you understand the Navajo language and know how to write English, you would write that message, 'Sheep's eyes is cured.' But that coded message doesn't mean that, it means, 'Mount Suribachi is secured.''"
Tso, along with over 400 other Marines known as Navajo code talkers, helped win the war. Today, Tso is often asked why he defended a country that treated his people so poorly for so long. For Tso, he may be on a reservation, but this country still belongs to the Navajo.
"The whole America still belongs to me," he said. "Even though they put me on a reservation, that's how I love my country."
Tso is part of a piece of history that allows Native Americans to take pride in our culture. It's one story that happened off a reservation and offers a unique type of antiquity in United States history.
Ellie