Navajo Nation to celebrate Code Talkers Day
Posted at: 08/12/2007 02:57:46 PM

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) - The Navajo Nation will celebrate Code Talkers Day as a tribal holiday for the first time Tuesday.

The Code Talkers were an elite group of Navajo Marines who confounded the Japanese during World War II by transmitting messages in their native language.

Tuesday's events will start with a parade.

It'll be followed by music from the Marine Corps band and local entertainment, then a speech by Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Junior.

Gourd dancing will wrap up the celebration.

The Navajo Nation Council voted 56-0 in favor of the Code Talker holiday last December.

There were 29 original Code Talkers, but several hundred Navajos served as Code Talkers during the war.

Ellie