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Members of the traditional Native American community joined
senior leadership in gathering at Nellis Air Force BaseNov. 19, 2015
to reflect on their past, address concerns for their future and
recognize the efforts of one of their most outstanding surviving
members - a veteran of World War II and a national treasure.
After the day's pressing topics had all been addressed, the group
concluded their annual conference by welcoming George Willie with a
standing ovation that could be heard echoing out the door and
through the halls of The Club at Nellis Air Force Base.
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Former U.S. Marine Corps Navajo Code Talker George Willie shakes hands with a grateful audience member during at the Native American Heritage Month Meeting at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., Nov. 19, 2015. Willie was accompanied by his wife and two of his daughters who helped to tell the story of hi service in the Pacific theater during World War II. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Joshua Kleinholz)
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Dressed in gold silk under a brilliant red vest
emblazoned with commemorative pins and ribbons of his era,
Willie was assisted into the room accompanied by his wife
and two of his daughters. He sat in his chair and
acknowledged the group with a humble wave. He wouldn't be
talking today.
The Japanese carried out the surprise
attack at Pearl Harbor that finally forced the U.S. into
global conflict on Dec. 7, 1941; when Willie was looking
forward to his 16th birthday. His daughter, Anabelle Small Canyon, took to the
podium on his behalf and explained how her father had joined
the U.S. Marine Corps soon after his 17th birthday and
became a part of the vitally-important Navajo Code Talker
program.
"With my notepad and pencil I waited for
dad," she said, explaining to listeners that her father only
recently began telling bits and pieces of his WWII story.
His daughters were unaware that he had been anything
other than a hardworking farmer and dad all of his life
until they found documentation from his honorable discharge
from service and started prying.
"Bits and pieces of
various environments would set him off, sort of like
triggers, and he would just start talking," she said.
Cooking outside on a fire, the sound of a helicopter
overhead, war movies and Catholic priests are all examples
of stimulus that would get him to spill the beans after all
these years.
As a Navajo Code Talker, Willie was part
of a top secret Marine Corps recruiting program that aimed
to integrate bilingual Navajo radio operators into combat
units using Native American code words to guarantee
communications security. The Japanese showed they were very
adept at cracking U.S. codes and the Navajo solution became
an integral driving force to victory in the Pacific.
After enlisting in 1943, Willie went on to graduate from the
program and took part in direct conflict throughout the
Pacific theater, the most notable event being the bloody
invasion of Okinawa in 1945. There, Willie demonstrated
great physical fortitude, demonstrating his mastery of more
than 420 codes in one of the most hostile environments ever
encountered by U.S. forces.
Prior to the detonation
of the atomic bomb in Nagasaki, Willie served out an
assignment there as well. He is one of very few Americans
alive today to have witnessed the immediate aftermath.
Willie believed the program was classified for years
after he returned home to live life as a family man and
farmer. Always a faithful Marine, he said nothing of his
involvement in the war and continues to say very little,
even after the program was declassified and he began
attending regular Navajo veterans reunions in New Mexico.
"The tribes are a very patriotic people," said Kish
Lapierre, 99th Civil Engineer Squadron archaeologist and
event organizer. "For this man to make the trip here and
share his story with our people is a great honor for us
all."
Of the 400 original Navajo Code Talkers
recruited during the war, Willie is believed to be one of
only 20 who are alive today.
By U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Joshua Kleinholz
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2015
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