‘Preserve our legacy’

Code Talker daughter encourages use of Diné bizaad

By Alastair Lee Bitsoi and Bill Donovan
Navajo Times

WINDOW ROCK

When he enlisted with the U.S. Marine Corps as a 17-year-old in 1943, George B. Willie, 88, was told by recruiters to come back in 14 days.

And during those 14 days, Willie prepared for his deployment.

According to his daughter, Annabelle Smallcanyon, 52, who serves as his “eyes, ears and mouth,” Willie’s grandfathers offered prayers and gave him corn pollen during those 14 days he was at home in Sawmill, Ariz., prior to his departure to Camp Pendleton.

Like many of his comrades, who are popularly and collectively known as the Navajo Code Talkers, he lied to recruiters, claiming he was 20-years-old, while attending a school at Fort Wingate.

At the U.S. Marine Corp. base, Willie learned what he and many other Navajo men would become – the Navajo Code Talkers, some of which were celebrating their honorable achievement during National Navajo Code Talkers Day on August 14 here at Veterans Memorial Park.

“Once he got to boot camp, he really liked the cadence of marching, and was also thinking some of the exercises and training was a little hard,” Smallcanyon said, recalling her conversations with her father, who mostly speaks Navajo.

“You had to keep up with everybody especially the drill instructor,” added Smallcanyon, citing Willie’s thoughts from their conversations.

From 1943 and 1945, Willie, who is Tó Dích’iínii (Bitter Water) and born for Tábaahá (Near The Water Edge), served in the Marine Corp as a private with the Second Marine Division, 10th Battalion.

One of the most recurrent memories that Smallcanyon remembers from her father is how he witnessed a bulldozer dig a grave for the bodies of Japanese that were buried there in Nagasaki.

“He saw the trauma of death. It affects him sometimes and he’ll get emotional,” she said.

 

While at National Navajo Code Talkers Day, which included speeches by Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye, Speaker LoRenzo Bates, Sen. John McCain, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Arizona State Sen. Carlyle Begay, Willie saw some of his comrades that he went to battle with and is updated frequently by Smallcanyon of the passing of others.

“It saddens him when he hears about a code talker passing,” Smallcanyon said. “It brings him down. When I tell him, he’ll say, ‘Oh, no!’”

In addition to visiting with his peers, Willie, for the first time in his life, also had the chance to visit family and relatives from the Sawmill area. Willie married out to Leupp, Ariz., where he spent most of his life in Western Navajo Agency.

Fast-forward 15 years, Smallcanyon reported that she didn’t know her father was a code talker until relatives and friends told her so.

“When I found out he was a code talker, I first had to learn what they were and what they did … until I found out what they did for the United States,” she said.
Since then, Smallcanyon finds her father being an admirable man, especially at the age he enlisted.

“He’s a humble man,” added the daughter. “I’m very proud of my father for saving many lives and even today.”

Smallcanyon, who is a Navajo language teacher with Flagstaff Unified School District, added that it’s important for Navajo parents to teach their children Navajo, given how crucial the use of Navajo was during World War II.

“I feel that since our fathers and grandfathers spoke Navajo and won the war, have respect and learn Navajo even if it’s a few words,” Smallcanyon added.

“In order for us to learn, it takes listening to your grandparents,” Smallcanyon said. “I say it’s important that we get to learn from them.”

Michael Smith, who organized the event, said Code Talker’s Day helps “preserve the legacy” of the Code Talkers.

The son of the late Code Talker Samuel Jesse Smith Sr., Smith estimated that a record 1,500 people attended this year’s event, which shows that interest in the Code Talkers among the general public is growing.

“I don’t think that there is a fear that the Code Talkers will be forgotten,” he said, adding that with the descendants continuing promoting the role the Code Talkers played in the winning of World War II, “that’s not going to happen.

“We would like to see the descendants get more involved, a lot more involved (in this effort),” Smith said.

While the event is expensive to put on, Smith said the expenses were covered “through the generosity of our sponsors who really came through to honor the Code Talkers.”

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