Veterans Day

On Dec. 31, 1945, Jean Whitehorse's father, the late Edmund Henry Sr., was paid a $147 stipend by the Marines and provided a one-way bus ticket from Camp Pendleton, Calif., to Gallup.

As a member of a small band of warriors now known as the Navajo Code Talkers, Henry arrived home to little fanfare.

On Wednesday, his daughter said he would have been proud to know that a portion of State Route 264 now honors their memory.

In a ceremony that took place on the eve of Veterans Day, President Joe Shirley Jr., New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and officials of the New Mexico Department of Transportation were on hand for the dedication of Navajo Code Talkers Highway, which stretches from Yah-Ta-Hey to Window Rock.

"What we are doing is a small token of appreciation to the brave men who answered the call to service," said Jackson Gibson, New Mexico state highway commissioner. "If it wasn't for the code talkers, I don't know what language we would be speaking today."

Gibson said when the men were called to service they were not even eligible to vote and most lied about their ages so they could enlist.

"They volunteered so that we could practice the freedom we have today," he said. "In fact, we practiced it the other day when we went to the polls to vote."

The effort to designate a Navajo Code Talkers Highway began in 1998 when Navajo Nation Council Delegate Ronald Gishey (Lower Greasewood) presented the request to the State Highway Commission, but the commission did not act.

Later that year, Leroy Sandoval, the Navajo Nation's director of transportation, presented the request to the commission again. This time the commissioners concurred, but it was not until this year that district engineer Larry Maynard decided a formal dedication ceremony was necessary.

During the dedication ceremony, Miss Navajo Nation Winifred B. Jumbo, Miss Eastern Navajo Khrissy Endito, Shirley and Richardson were called upon to sing "Happy Birthday" to the U.S. Marine Corps on their 235th birthday.

"Only in the last few years have ceremonies and movies been done involving the Navajo Code Talkers," Richardson said. "What they accomplished will endure forever. It's fitting to pay tribute and thank them for their service and sacrifice. We must not forget."

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