Codetalker recieves recognition

[thedrifter]

Codetalker recieves recognition
Submitted by: MCB Quantico
Story Identification #: 2004722173439
Story by Cpl. Clinton Firstbrook



MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va (July 9, 2004) -- Jo-kayed-goh wol-achi ba-ah-hot-gli. Al-tah-je-jay lin dah-sah nah-ki (request air support, attack hill number two). Pinned down by enemy fire on the black sands of Iwo Jima, this was 5th Marine Division's Reconnaissance Company's call for support.

Pfc. Samuel Billison and five other Navajo code talkers in the Reconnaissance Co. transmitted 800 of these coded messages without error throughout the first 48 hours of the battle of Iwo Jima.

July 8 Billison toured the Pentagon, during which he called on the commandant of the Marine Corps, then toured Marine Corps Base Quantico. He then was honored July 9 by the Daughters of the American Revolution for his service in that important program.

Billison was born in a traditional Hogan -- a traditional Navajo home -- on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. When he was five years old, Billison was sent to a special boarding school where Native Americans were taught to read, write and speak English. If they spoke their native language they were punished severely.

"It was very hard to control speaking Navajo because the school I went to, St Michael's, was 98 percent Navajo," said Billison. "When we first got there we didn't know any words in English, so when you only know how to speak Navajo what are you supposed to talk?"

After graduating from high school in 1943, Billison enlisted in the Marine Corps and shipped off to basic training in San Diego.

"I enlisted number one because there was a war going on," he said. "But I enlisted in the Corps because I kept seeing these posters for the Marines with 'The Few, The Brave' on them and they really looked sharp wearing those dress blues."

During the war, the Japanese broke every code the military came up with. The son of a missionary to the Navajo tribe, Philip Johnston believed the Navajo language might be a solution to this military problem. Navajo language was not widely spoken and was unwritten at the time, so Johnston thought is could be used as a code in radio and wire transmissions.

Johnston, who was fluent in the language having lived among the Navajo for 24 years, brought the idea to Lt. Col. James Jones, the area signal officer at Camp Elliot, Calif.

This idea was demonstrated to Maj. Gen. Clayton Vogel, commanding general of Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet, and his staff Feb. 25, 1942. Marine officers composed simulated field combat messages that Navajos translated then transmitted to other Navajos on the other side of the line. The second Native American then translated the message back in English. The Navajos could do in two and a half minutes what it took other Marines two and a half hours to do. From this demonstration the highly classified "Code Talker" program was formed.

With the commandant's approval, recruitment began in May 1942. Each Navajo underwent basic boot camp training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego before assignment to the Field Signal Battalion at Camp Pendleton, Calif., for training in basic communications procedures and equipment.

Twenty-nine Navajos of the first group recruited devised Navajo words for military terms. Alternate terms were also provided in the code for letters frequently repeated in the English language. All students had to memorize both sets of the code terms in order to pass the code talker class.

Billison became part of the program soon after his boot camp graduation. When an officer asked him if he was an Indian, Billison said he was Navajo. Upon learning that Billison spoke and understood Navajo and English, the officer informed him that the Corps had a job tailored just for him.

"I was at the code school for seven months working every day," said Billison "It was all top secret and you couldn't take notes or have anything in writing that was Navajo to study. The code was very difficult to learn but once you remembered the basics it came pretty easy."

To sort through the code's words, everything was set into three categories. Planes were named after birds, anything that was used on the ground was named after things found on the ground.

The different kinds of ships were named after different types of fish. The developers of the original code also assigned Navajo words to represent around 450 frequently used military terms that did not exist in the Navajo language.

"It was a surprise for us to be asked to use our language from A to Z for a code that related to animals that we live with," said retired Cpl. Chester Nez, one of the original 29 code talkers. "That was our basis and how we tried to develop the code. It was very hard coming up with a word for everything. In those days the tank used to move very slow so that's the reason we named it the turtle."

Once the code talkers completed training in the States, they were sent to the Pacific for assignment to Marine combat divisions. By August 1943, a total of 191 Navajos had joined the Marine Corps for this program and by 1945, an estimated 420 Navajos were spread throughout the Corps.

From 1942 until 1945, Navajo code talkers participated in numerous battles in the Pacific, including Guadalcanal, Guam, Peleliu, Tarawa, Saipan, and Bougainville.

After a three-day air and gun assault, about 30,000 Marines of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions, under V Amphibious Corps, landed on Iwo Jima Feb. 19, 1945, and a battle for the island commenced. Forty thousand more Marines would soon follow. The landing was called Operation Detachment, and Billison was among those Marines.

"When I landed on Iwo Jima it was chaos," he said. "Gunfire everywhere, explosions popping up at every step, it wasn't anything like a picnic that's for sure. We lost a lot of good Marines that day."

During the 36-day battle, nearly 7,000 Marines were killed in action and more than 19,000 were wounded. Of the 22,000 Japanese soldiers that fortified the island only about 1,000 were taken prisoner. The rest were killed in action.

The code talkers played a vital role in the battle.

"Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima," said Maj. Howard Connor, 5th Marines signal officer.

Upon completion of his military service, Billison was awarded the rank of corporal and told never to talk about his exploits in the Marine Corps in case the military might again one day call upon the code talkers.

"When we were discharged we were told not to talk about the code, about radios or any type of communication," said Billison "If anyone asks, just tell them you fought with the Marines. So that's what we did."

After the Corps, Billison continued with his life. Taking advantage of the GI Bill, he attended college in Oklahoma in 1948 because he had heard it was friendly to Native Americans.

He would eventually earn his bachelor's degree from Bacone College and East Central State in Ada, Okla., in pre law and history. Then in 1952, Billison received his master's Degree at Oklahoma University in Norman, Okla., for school administration.

He taught a variety of subjects and coached a variety of sports at the high school level. Billison later went on to obtain his doctorate at the University of Arizona in school administration in 1971.

"One thing my mother said that always stuck with me throughout my life and motivated me to get where I am today is that she didn't want me to raise my children in the environment I was raised in," said Billison. "You see, we weren't that well off. That is why she sent me off to school. So I always told myself I was going to go as far as I could with education."

After 26 years of silence, the code was finally declassified in 1968. It had been used again, in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Throughout that time the code remained a secret -- unbroken by enemy forces.

"We never knew the magnitude that we contributed to the war until after the code was declassified," said Billison. "Everybody started to say 'hey you're a code talker, come here we want to honor you.' I'd ask, what did we do?"

In the rotunda of the Capitol, on July 26, 2001, President George W. Bush presented the code talkers with Congressional gold and silver medals.

"The gentlemen with us, John Brown, Chester Nez, Lloyd Oliver, Allen Dale June, and Joe Palmer, represented by his son Kermit, are the last of the original Navajo Code Talkers," President Bush said during the presentation ceremony. "In presenting gold medals to each of them, the Congress recognizes their individual service, bravely offered and flawlessly performed. With silver medals, we also honor the dozens more who served later, with the same courage and distinction. And with all these honors, America pays tribute to the tradition and community that produced such men, the great Navajo Nation.

"Today we mark a moment of shared history and shared victory. We recall a story that all Americans can celebrate, and every American should know. It is a story of ancient people, called to serve in a modern war. It is a story of one unbreakable oral code of the Second World War, messages traveling by field radio on Iwo Jima in the very language heard across the Colorado plateau centuries ago."

President Bush also declared November to be National American Indian Heritage Month. President Ronald Reagan had designated Aug. 14 as National Code Talkers' Day in 1982.

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[thedrifter]

"We appreciate all of the recognition, but it's so late in the whole situation [that] by the time we were allowed to talk about what we did most of the first 29 [who developed the code] were gone," said Billison. "Only 20 years after the war, most were already gone. They never told anyone what they did-how they developed the code. Even myself, my parents died before 1968 and I never told them what I did, either."

Billison works tirelessly to raise funds for the Code Talkers Association, funerals for his fellow code talkers, scholarships for descendants of the code talkers and the construction of a National Code Talker Museum. He also travels around the country for interviews and presentations on the history of the code talkers.

"I'm just trying to keep the story of the code talkers alive," said Billison. "Our goal is to have the people understand what we did and how important and sacred the Native American language is."

Billison has spent his life serving his community. He worked in education for 30 years. He has served two 4-year terms on the Navajo Tribal Council, his most recent term ending in January of 2003. He is the current chairman of the Kinlichee School Board, the current President of the Navajo Code Talker's Association, and the voice of the "GI Joe" Code Talker action figure.
On July 9 of this year, the Daughters of the American Revolution recognized Billison for his accomplishments, awarding him the DAR Medal of Honor. Past recipients include Charlton Heston, Tom Brokaw and Rudolf Giuliani.

"The Charles Dibrell Chapter nominated Dr. Billison because of his credentials," said Alice Jones, New Mexico state recording secretary. "He has a long history of community and patriotic service. He's such a genuinely giving individual and has a lifetime in the service of education and giving back to others."

When taking the stage Billison opened with YAH-TA, the Navajo word for hello. He then had everyone repeat it and said, "you all just broke the code."

"It could've been anybody who received this award," said Billison. "There are so many people who have done a lot of good things and should be recognized. I appreciate this honor very much."

Of the 29 original code talkers only four are still alive today. And of the 420 Navajo that followed, there are only about 100.

"Some people say the war in the Pacific would not have been won if not for the code talkers," said Billison. "This is a statement the code talkers stay away from. They fought to protect their country. To them, it was just the right thing to do."

http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn20...8?opendocument


Ellie