Third Code talker dies
Delegate: 'They don't go alone'

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

FOREST LAKE — Navajo Nation Council Delegate Amos F. Johnson announced that a third Navajo Code Talker has died within two weeks.

Johnson said that Willie Kesoli Begay died Monday in Polacca, Ariz. The funeral is set for 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Forest Lake Church, he said.

“It’s really unfortunate. I thought about what happened, and that’s the third Code Talker within two weeks, so then I thought about stories that people talked about from a long time ago. When someone passes away, they don’t go alone,” he said

Johnson called Begay’s death a loss for the Navajo Nation.

“I wish the rest of the world and everyone could learn the history of their role and their time spent in the Pacific,” he said.

The Navajo Code Talkers developed a code in the Navajo language that was never broken and aided in ending World War II. For much of their lives, their roles as Code Talkers were unknown to the world until declassified in 1968.

Since the declassification, the Code Talkers have become celebrated heroes to the Navajo people and are internationally known.

Johnson has requested honor guard detail from the U.S. Marine Corps for the funeral.

No further information was available at 9 a.m. Wednesday.