A Navajo Code Talker who served during World War II will be in Lyman, WY this week to speak during a special event.
Samuel Tom Holiday will be at Lyman High School Auditorium at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 11, 2017.
At 92 years old, Holiday served as a United States Marine Corps Navajo Code Talker and will speak about his wartime service in the Pacific and the story of the Code Talkers. The event is open to the public.
The Navajo Code Talkers were Navajo Native Americans serving in the Marine Corps in World War II whose primary duty was transmitting and receiving messages and information over military telephone or radio communications nets using codes created from the highly complex Navajo language.
Navajo Code Talkers, recognized for their skill, speed, and accuracy throughout the campaigns in the Pacific, continued serving through the Korean War and after; the program was ended early in the Vietnam War. Military historians believe that the Navajo code is the only spoken military code never to have been broken or deciphered.
From 1943 to 1945, Holiday served with the 5th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division on Saipan, Iwo Jima, Tinian, and the Marshall Islands. For his service as a Navajo Code talker, he was awarded the Congressional Silver Medal.
More on Holiday and the Navajo Code Talkers can be found at the following websites:
Veterans History Project
https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/bib/loc.natlib.afc2001001.52527
Navajo People Culture and History
http://navajopeople.org/blog/samuel-tom-holiday-navajo-code-talker/
Native American Project
http://nativeamerican.lostsoulsgenealogy.com/biographies/samuelholiday.htm
