Navajo Code Talker Alfred K. Newman dies at 94 in New Mexico
Source: Province (via AP)
A Navajo Code Talker who used his native language to outsmart the Japanese in World War II has died in New Mexico at age 94.
Navajo Nation officials say Alfred K. Newman died Sunday at a nursing home in Bloomfield.
Newman was among hundreds of Navajos who served in the Marine Corps, using a code based on their native language to outsmart the Japanese in World War II.
During World War II, Newman served from 1943-45 in the 1st Battalion, 21st Marine Regiment and 3rd Marine Division and saw duty at Bougainville Island, Guam, Iwo Jima, Kwajalein Atoll, Enewetak Atoll, New Georgia and New Caledonia.
Read more: https://theprovince.com/pmn/news-pmn/navajo-code-talker-alfred-k-newman-dies-at-94-in-new-mexico/wcm/805b3c4e-337e-45eb-8c43-b7302f9bf5d9
Not much more information at the source. This man is one of the reasons we won WWII!
BumRushDaShow
(129,570 posts)in articles at the time - e.g., https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/06/04/318873830/last-of-the-navajo-code-talkers-dies-at-93
I would not be surprised if there are perhaps some others still out there. Two others had died in 2018 - https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2018/06/13/one-of-the-last-navajo-code-talkers-has-died/
https://www.usveteransmagazine.com/2018/04/wwii-navajo-code-talker-roy-hawthorne-sr-dies-92/
At least one of the articles I found made this note -
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2018/04/23/wwii-navajo-code-talker-roy-hawthorne-sr-dies-arizona-92/544509002/
R.I.P. to a TRUE patriot!
Aristus
(66,467 posts)I would thank you in Navaho, but I don't know a word of the language. Which is one reason why your service and that of your fellow Marines was so valuable.
turbinetree
(24,720 posts)Ahéhee' Our Navajo word for today is Thank You. It's good to point out that the Navajo 'h' sound is a lot more exasperated when followed by a short (and a short high tone) 'e'. The second 'h' is less pronounced, or more in line with normal English usage.
Aristus
(66,467 posts)Ahehee'!
turbinetree
(24,720 posts)Wado..................Thank you
My mothers heritage and my culture......................Cherokee
https://cherokee.org/
Staph
(6,253 posts)The lessons are available, but still in beta test.
https://www.duolingo.com/course/nv/en/Learn-Navajo-Online
(I have no monetary connection to the company, but I am learning Spanish through their app on my phone. Really painless language lessons!)
turbinetree
(24,720 posts)turbinetree
(24,720 posts)BHDem53
(1,061 posts)Rest in peace.
MFGsunny
(2,356 posts)akraven
(1,975 posts)Fly away, Mr. Newman, to the new and better place.
progree
(10,920 posts)Easy-to-read -- interspersed with lots of pictures.
... At the beginning of US involvement in WWII, the Japanese were breaking every code the Americans came up with. In response, World War I veteran Philip Johnston suggested a novel idea to the US Marine Corpse in 1942 using the Navajo language as a code.
Johnston was the son of missionaries, and had grown up speaking Navajo on the Navajo reservation even though he himself was not Native. He was inspired to use the Navajo language as a code after seeing Native Americans communicating with each other in the US Army during the First World War.
The Navajo language was the perfect language to use because it had no alphabet, and as a result, there were no materials the Japanese could use to learn it. The Marine Corps loved Johnston's idea, and began recruiting young Navajo men as code talkers.
More: https://www.businessinsider.com/who-are-native-american-code-talkers-trump-pocahontas-2017-11
Yes, it has "US Marine Corpse" in this otherwise excellent article.
sinkingfeeling
(51,476 posts)alittlelark
(18,890 posts)whistler162
(11,155 posts)Another interesting book on the subject. https://www.amazon.com/Code-Talker-Memoir-Original-Talkers-ebook/dp/B005ERIRHW/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_talker
Interesting fact - the film Battle Cry featured Navajo Phonetalkers - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Cry_(film). The film was shot in 1955 while deeds of the Codetalkers was still a supposed secret.
keithbvadu2
(36,937 posts)No bone spurs.