Code Talkers’ reunion finds their numbers are dwindling

Six Code Talkers from Platoon 297 got together on Saturday for their first reunion. Standing (left to right) are Joe Silversmith and Tom Jones. Seated are Samuel Sandoval, David Jordan, Wilfred Billey and Jerry Begay. [Photo by Karen Francis/Independent]

By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — They are an elite group. They assisted in developing an unbreakable code that helped to win World War II. And only 11 are still surviving. Six members of the 297th Platoon got together for their first reunion on Saturday at Quality Inn in Window Rock.

Playfully arguing over who was the best looking one, the Code Talkers shared stories as they looked over framed portraits of their platoon from decades ago. At the reunion were Jerry Begay from Lukachukai , Ariz., Wilfred Billy from Farmington, David Jordan from Sweetwater, Ariz., Tom Jones from Shiprock, Samuel Sandoval from Shiprock, and Joe Silversmith from Thoreau.

There was laughter and tears as the Code Talkers and their family members spoke about their lives.

The reunion was the idea of Code Talker Samuel Sandoval.

“One day he came to me and said ‘I want to meet my comrades again, share stories, talk to them,’” Samuel’s wife Malula said.

That was two years ago. Since then, two more members of the platoon passed away and Malula decided to make her husband’s dream of a reunion come true.

“Sam said he did not think he would ever see his comrades again,” she said.

So when Kenji Kawano, the Code Talker’s photographer, came around during the Northern Navajo Nation Fair, she told him about the reunion idea and the two families began working together to make sure it would happen.

For Kawano, it was a way to give back to the Code Talkers, who have been the inspiration behind much of his work as a photographer.

Kawano said people sometimes tell him, “They are your former enemy,” but he said that nationality does not matter.

He said that the Code Talkers are around his father’s age — 81 — and he considers them to be like fathers.

“I feel they are my father,” he said. “I wish I could go to your hogan and chop wood,” he said to the Code Talkers.

The Sandoval family provided print outs of several photos of the platoon. Looking at a photo from World War II, one of the family members asked Kawano if the tank pictured was a Japanese one. Kawano replied, “I don’t know. I wasn’t born yet,” drawing laughter from the entire room.

For those who had the honor of attending the reunion, it was a rare opportunity to hear the stories first-hand from the Code Talkers themselves.

“The code has never been broken. The intelligence through the world tried. They didn’t know what we’re talking about,” Samuel said with a laugh. “The only people who could break it — there’s six of them here.”

Samuel relayed some of the history of Platoon 297.
He said that in March 1942 they enlisted in Santa Fe and one week later reported to Gallup where they boarded the train to go to basic training in San Diego .

Samuel noted that some of the boys lied about their age to get into the military. For example, Code Talker Jerry Begay said he was only 17 when they went. Others were only 15 or 16.

Samuel said that there were only 200 words in the code when the 297 arrived.

“And here we come in. We’re not satisfied with 200,” he said.

Samuel said they knew the enemies were very smart and were capable of catching on and so they added more than 800 words to the code.

“Some authors don’t go according to what I’m talking about,” he said. “They all have different stories.”

Samuel said that the platoon left the United States together landing at a dispersing area near Australia — the last time the entire platoon was together.

“The only one I went with is sitting here — Joe Silversmith,” Samuel said.

From there, the two took a boat out to China , Samuel said.

Silversmith said that he was trying to enlist in the Navy but when he was called in he was told he was going to the Marines Corps.

“I said ‘Why? I want to go to the Navy.’ They said, ‘You’re going to the Marines. We’re going to use you as a Code Talker,’” Silversmith said.

He said that he and Sam had a lot of fun together. His remark that one of his fellow Code Talkers “smiled all the way through the war” drew laughter from the other Code Talkers as they remembered the days they were in the war.

Silversmith laughed when he recalled a Thanksgiving during the war.

“There was machine gun, aircraft activities,” he said.
“Here was our Thanksgiving dinner mess kit,” he said. “We saw the Japanese coming. We just dove into the foxhole and there went our Thanksgiving dinner,” he said.

The Japanese plane went up in flames nearby.

“If they would have dropped it, there would been nothing left of us,” Silversmith said. “Many times it was close but we pulled through. For my people, we done this. For my grandson, we done this,” he said.

Code Talker Wilfred Billy noted that Platoons 297 and 382 were in “the thick of war.”

He said that the first battle he was in as a radio operator was in 1943, about 2,000 miles southwest of Hawaii. After a tour of duty in Hawaii, he was shipped to Saipan in 1945.

The same year, he was ordered to Okinawa, but then ordered back to Saipan because he said he was told he was no longer needed there. Two weeks later the war ended and Billy was sent to Nagasaki, Japan, where the atom bomb had been dropped.

“They never said anything about radiation,” he said.

Billy recalled how everyone would call him “Chief” when he was serving in the Marines.

In response, he would say, “Don’t call me chief. If I was your chief then we would not be in this mess.”

Billy stayed in Japan for three months and was discharged in 1946. The same year he went to Whitney College in Illinois . In the subsequent years, he finished up his undergraduate work at Highlands University in New Mexico and eventually went on to the University of Wyoming for his graduate work. Billy worked in education for 40 years.

One of Billy’s students when he was teaching in Shiprock was a young man named Oreland C. Joe. Many years later, Billy approached Joe with the idea of sculpting a statue of a Code Talker. Now Joe’s sculptures to honor the Code Talkers can be seen at the Navajo Nation Veterans Memorial Park and at the Gallup Cultural Center .

On Saturday, Platoon 297 ended their reunion with a photo session in front of that statue at the Veterans Memorial Park — bringing their journey together full circle, from their Navajo homes to a war in foreign territories and back to Navajo land again.