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Navajo Nation celebrates National Navajo Code Talkers Day

Former Navajo Tribal Chairman and Navajo Code Talker Peter MacDonald told of the valor of Navajo Code Talkers. He was among three remaining Code Talkers to be honored by proclamation by President Buu Nygren, Speaker Curley and Chief Justice JoAnn Jayne during Navajo Code Talkers Day on Aug. 14, 2024. Joining them on stage was Vietnam Veteran Henry Tsosie.
Navajo Nation
Former Navajo Tribal Chairman and Navajo Code Talker Peter MacDonald told of the valor of Navajo Code Talkers. He was among three remaining Code Talkers to be honored by proclamation by President Buu Nygren, Speaker Curley and Chief Justice JoAnn Jayne during Navajo Code Talkers Day on Aug. 14, 2024. Joining them on stage was Vietnam Veteran Henry Tsosie.

Wednesday was national Navajo Code Talker Day, honoring the Native Americans who helped in World War II with their unique language.

The Navajo Nation celebrated the three veteran Code Talkers who are still alive.

Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren along with Congressman Eli Crane and a three-star general attended the celebrations in Window Rock honoring those alive and the roughly 400 total who served.

John Kinsel Sr.,107, and former Tribal chairman Peter Macdonald, 96, were the only living Code Talkers able to attend.

President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation in 1982 designating Aug. 14 as National Navajo Code Talkers Day.

Nygren called for the preservation of the Diné language, which was used as the basis for a code that was classified until the 1960s.

Code Talkers
Defense.gov
The Navajo Code Talkers developed an unbreakable code that became critical in ending World War II.

Greg Hahne started as a news intern at KJZZ in 2020 and returned as a field correspondent in 2021. He learned his love for radio by joining Arizona State University's Blaze Radio, where he worked on the production team.
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