Code Talker not too talkative
Utah Guard fetes Navajo who served in WWII
During an appearance Wednesday at the Utah National Guard headquarters, a child asked June if he had ever been in a submarine.
"I saw it," was all June replied, which was followed by chuckles among the estimated 150 audience members, most of whom were wearing camouflage.
Sgt. 1st Class Sam Galbraith, 54, and his son, Sgt. Joe Galbraith, 26, both of whom are Navajo and full-time Utah Guard members, were introduced to June. The elder Galbraith called it an honor and privilege to meet him.
"It's very meaningful to me," Sam Galbraith said.
Retired Army Lt. Col. Daniel Hudson dubbed June a "living legend." But for 23 years after World War II, June and others from the 29 original members of the Navajo Code Talkers were told to keep quiet about their experience, for national security reasons.
"This was a tremendous stress and strain on them," said Hudson, who gave Guard members a presentation Wednesday on Code Talkers.
By 1968, government officials had lifted the curtain of secrecy to reveal the war contributions of this elite group of American Indian soldiers, which included at least one other tribe. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan named Aug. 14 "National Code Talkers Day."
President Bush in 2001 presented June and other Navajo Code Talkers with the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award given by Congress. But to this day, June chooses to remain mostly silent on his war experiences.
June and his wife, Virginia, once West Valley City residents, now live in Longmont, Colo., north of Denver. Virginia does most of the talking for her husband.
"He was quiet," she said about the 23 years of imposed silence. And he's quiet now, she added, describing life these days as "smooth sailing."
The Junes walk about three to five miles every day. They make appearances when asked. And they were in Utah this week to help dedicate a war monument in West Jordan.
During the war, June was part of a group that helped the United States win the "war of words" with the Japanese. Code Talkers used their native language to communicate messages between U.S. troops.
The Navajo word for tortoise, for example, would have been used to identify the presence of an enemy tank. A single word with different voice inflections could have been used to mean several different things to a Code Talker.
It was a code unbreakable by the Japanese, although they tried.
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