thedrifter
08-17-09, 08:17 AM
Code Talkers speaking out to teach history of messaging system
by Alex Dalenberg - Aug. 17, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Joe Kellwood turns pages in a glossy-print history magazine to a black-and-white photograph of three U.S. Marines en route to Okinawa, Japan.
"Those two are both gone," Kellwood said, pointing toward the right side of the image to the men posing on a transport ship
Then he runs a long finger over the scene and stops at the third soldier. Here, Kellwood
jabs and taps the photograph. He laughs.
"That's the only one that's still around," he said. "Old Joe Kellwood."
At 87, Kellwood is one of the few remaining veterans of the Navajo Code Talkers. The group used the Navajo language to transmit coded messages on the battlefields of the Pacific Theater. The unbroken code would prove critical to Allied forces in defeating the Japanese Empire.
About 400 men of the Navajo Nation served as Code Talkers. Fewer than 100 Navajo Code Talkers are living today. At least four Code Talkers have died since May, according to U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick's office. Her 1st Congressional District encompasses much of the Navajo Nation.
But even as the World War II generation takes its place in history, Kellwood remains in living color with his bright-yellow veterans uniform, symbolic of sacred corn pollen and striped ribbons on his chest decked with three gold campaign stars. His red cap reads, "Semper Fi," which means "Always Faithful."
"You get old, but by golly it's good to live," Kellwood said.
Laura Tohe, a professor at Arizona State University and daughter of a Navajo Code Talker, believes Kellwood to be the only Code Talker living in the Valley. Tohe has devoted considerable research to the group. She is finding and interviewing the remaining veterans for an oral-history book. Through her research, Tohe has found 48 living Code Talkers, although there may be more, she said.
"There's no record of exactly how many Code Talkers are still living," she said.
The men Tohe found are spread across the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona, and searching for the men on the vast spaces of the reservation has been an adventure for her. Tohe said she's used maps neighbors have drawn on the backs of napkins to track the Code Talkers.
Kellwood, however, was easy to find. He's lived in his Sunnyslope-area home since 1951.
And like his comrades, Kellwood has his own remarkable story to tell - and luckily, there is still some time left, Tohe said.
"These are resilient, spirited men who left a homeland to something that was unknown to them," Tohe said. "Leaving the reservation and getting on this big boat, not knowing if they'd ever see their families again, that's something a lot of us can't understand."
Kellwood was born in Steamboat Canyon, about 20 miles west of Ganado on the Navajo Reservation, in 1921 He grew up herding sheep and chopping wood.
"Golly Moses, it was hard work. But it was a good life," Kellwood said. At age 10, the U.S. government ordered Kellwood to attend a military school where Indian children were taught to assimilate White culture. He remembers being beaten just for speaking Navajo, even though he hadn't yet learned English.
"They spanked us every day for speaking Navajo," he said. "They spanked us whenever they could."
The mission schools, and their beatings, are a common thread in the Code Talkers' stories, Tohe said.
"It's ironic," she said. "They used that language to save the country."
As the world prepared for war, Kellwood found work in an ordnance depot at Fort Wingate.
Later, when he saw the Battle of Guadalcanal in the newsreels, Kellwood decided to be a Marine. After basic training, Kellwood was designated for special training. He spent months in a classroom learning the top-secret code. He remembers the instructors beating on his chest, telling him the secret never could be given away or spoken about to anyone.
Kellwood served in the battles of Cape Gloucester, Peleliu and Okinawa"Boy, it was a lot of hard fighting," he says. "We lost a lotta Marines. To lose your friends . . . you remember that."
When Kellwood returned from the war, he and fellow Marines were forbidden to speak about their wartime experiences - the top-secret Code Talker program was not declassified until 1968.
Even afterward, few Navajo discussed the war.
"(My father) never spoke about ever being a Code Talker," Tohe said. "I think he didn't want to talk about it because it was such a horrendous experience growing up in the war. . . . I didn't even know what the Code Talkers were."
Candace Begody, who grew up on the Navajo Reservation in Ganado, said the Code Talkers were seldom discussed in school or otherwise.
"I unfortunately had to learn it through Hollywood," said Begody, 21, who is the editor of a student journal on Native American affairs at the University of Arizona.
"We're taught to be humble," she said. "Most of the time, the elderly won't talk to you unless you really bug them about it."
Tohe said she has seen an explosion of interest in the Code Talkers. Her talks on the subject for the Arizona Humanities Council regularly fill spaces across the state, she said.
And as time has passed, the Code Talkers have been willing to share their stories. "I feel very grateful to them for that," she said.
A Navajo Code Talkers museum is being planned in Window Rock, the capital of the Navajo Nation. Chevron Mining Inc. recently donated 208 acres of land in July to the Navajo Code Talkers Association for the museum.
"Now the kids will remember us. People always say 'Thank you' now," Kellwood said before smiling.
"But I tell them I won the war for me, too."
Ellie
by Alex Dalenberg - Aug. 17, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Joe Kellwood turns pages in a glossy-print history magazine to a black-and-white photograph of three U.S. Marines en route to Okinawa, Japan.
"Those two are both gone," Kellwood said, pointing toward the right side of the image to the men posing on a transport ship
Then he runs a long finger over the scene and stops at the third soldier. Here, Kellwood
jabs and taps the photograph. He laughs.
"That's the only one that's still around," he said. "Old Joe Kellwood."
At 87, Kellwood is one of the few remaining veterans of the Navajo Code Talkers. The group used the Navajo language to transmit coded messages on the battlefields of the Pacific Theater. The unbroken code would prove critical to Allied forces in defeating the Japanese Empire.
About 400 men of the Navajo Nation served as Code Talkers. Fewer than 100 Navajo Code Talkers are living today. At least four Code Talkers have died since May, according to U.S. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick's office. Her 1st Congressional District encompasses much of the Navajo Nation.
But even as the World War II generation takes its place in history, Kellwood remains in living color with his bright-yellow veterans uniform, symbolic of sacred corn pollen and striped ribbons on his chest decked with three gold campaign stars. His red cap reads, "Semper Fi," which means "Always Faithful."
"You get old, but by golly it's good to live," Kellwood said.
Laura Tohe, a professor at Arizona State University and daughter of a Navajo Code Talker, believes Kellwood to be the only Code Talker living in the Valley. Tohe has devoted considerable research to the group. She is finding and interviewing the remaining veterans for an oral-history book. Through her research, Tohe has found 48 living Code Talkers, although there may be more, she said.
"There's no record of exactly how many Code Talkers are still living," she said.
The men Tohe found are spread across the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona, and searching for the men on the vast spaces of the reservation has been an adventure for her. Tohe said she's used maps neighbors have drawn on the backs of napkins to track the Code Talkers.
Kellwood, however, was easy to find. He's lived in his Sunnyslope-area home since 1951.
And like his comrades, Kellwood has his own remarkable story to tell - and luckily, there is still some time left, Tohe said.
"These are resilient, spirited men who left a homeland to something that was unknown to them," Tohe said. "Leaving the reservation and getting on this big boat, not knowing if they'd ever see their families again, that's something a lot of us can't understand."
Kellwood was born in Steamboat Canyon, about 20 miles west of Ganado on the Navajo Reservation, in 1921 He grew up herding sheep and chopping wood.
"Golly Moses, it was hard work. But it was a good life," Kellwood said. At age 10, the U.S. government ordered Kellwood to attend a military school where Indian children were taught to assimilate White culture. He remembers being beaten just for speaking Navajo, even though he hadn't yet learned English.
"They spanked us every day for speaking Navajo," he said. "They spanked us whenever they could."
The mission schools, and their beatings, are a common thread in the Code Talkers' stories, Tohe said.
"It's ironic," she said. "They used that language to save the country."
As the world prepared for war, Kellwood found work in an ordnance depot at Fort Wingate.
Later, when he saw the Battle of Guadalcanal in the newsreels, Kellwood decided to be a Marine. After basic training, Kellwood was designated for special training. He spent months in a classroom learning the top-secret code. He remembers the instructors beating on his chest, telling him the secret never could be given away or spoken about to anyone.
Kellwood served in the battles of Cape Gloucester, Peleliu and Okinawa"Boy, it was a lot of hard fighting," he says. "We lost a lotta Marines. To lose your friends . . . you remember that."
When Kellwood returned from the war, he and fellow Marines were forbidden to speak about their wartime experiences - the top-secret Code Talker program was not declassified until 1968.
Even afterward, few Navajo discussed the war.
"(My father) never spoke about ever being a Code Talker," Tohe said. "I think he didn't want to talk about it because it was such a horrendous experience growing up in the war. . . . I didn't even know what the Code Talkers were."
Candace Begody, who grew up on the Navajo Reservation in Ganado, said the Code Talkers were seldom discussed in school or otherwise.
"I unfortunately had to learn it through Hollywood," said Begody, 21, who is the editor of a student journal on Native American affairs at the University of Arizona.
"We're taught to be humble," she said. "Most of the time, the elderly won't talk to you unless you really bug them about it."
Tohe said she has seen an explosion of interest in the Code Talkers. Her talks on the subject for the Arizona Humanities Council regularly fill spaces across the state, she said.
And as time has passed, the Code Talkers have been willing to share their stories. "I feel very grateful to them for that," she said.
A Navajo Code Talkers museum is being planned in Window Rock, the capital of the Navajo Nation. Chevron Mining Inc. recently donated 208 acres of land in July to the Navajo Code Talkers Association for the museum.
"Now the kids will remember us. People always say 'Thank you' now," Kellwood said before smiling.
"But I tell them I won the war for me, too."
Ellie