Spring Break
Navajo code talker visits CSU
Duhesa Lounge exhibit opening wraps up month-long celebrations
STEPHANIE GERLACH
Issue date: 12/1/06 Section: News
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June, now 85, is the oldest of 13 children and worked at a windmill on the Navajo reservation in Kaibeto "Antelope Springs," Ariz. He joined the United States Marine Corps in 1942.
He was only 16 at the time, but said he was 19 in order to serve. Because he was the only one of the original code talkers who had a high school education, he was automatically given a higher rank.
June served in the Pacific Corridor in Division One, where all 29 men developed the code - which consisted of 200 Navajo words substituted for common military words and phrases. It was the main mode of code communication and was unwritten and unknown by the Germans and Japanese.
He worked as a code talker on the Battleship McKinley to redirect the firing line depending on where the Japanese were. June was in all seven major battles in the Pacific Corridor and crossed the equator eight times.
The Navajo code was never broken.
But June doesn't speak much English these days, so his wife Virginia speaks on his behalf.
"We feel honored that people continue to recognize the contributions my husband made to the freedom this country enjoys," she said. "If we know the country is safe, our Navajo nation is safe."
After three and a half years in the service, June was honorably discharged and was given a Congressional Gold Medal along with the other original 29 code talkers.
He went on to receive a master's in business management and start a family. In all these years, June has remained tight-lipped about his experiences during the war, but takes pride in honoring his past at various events.
"He went on just living his life and he doesn't talk about (his experiences during the war)," Virginia said.
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