One of the last Navajo Code Talkers from World War II dies at 107
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[October 21, 2024]
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) — John Kinsel Sr., one of the last
remaining Navajo Code Talkers who transmitted messages during World War
II based on the tribe's native language, has died. He was 107.
Navajo Nation officials in Window Rock announced Kinsel’s death on
Saturday.
Tribal President Buu Nygren has ordered all flags on the reservation to
be flown at half-staff until Oct. 27 at sunset to honor Kinsel.
“Mr. Kinsel was a Marine who bravely and selflessly fought for all of us
in the most terrifying circumstances with the greatest responsibility as
a Navajo Code Talker,” Nygren said in a statement Sunday. |
Navajo Code Talker John Kinsel Sr., of Lukachukai, Ariz., listens as his
comrades speak of their WWII experiences Tuesday Aug. 14, 2007, in
Window Rock, Ariz. (AP Photo/Donovan Quintero, File) |
With Kinsel’s death, only two Navajo Code Talkers are still
alive: Former Navajo Chairman Peter MacDonald and Thomas H.
Begay.
Hundreds of Navajos were recruited by the Marines to serve as
Code Talkers during the war, transmitting messages based on
their then-unwritten native language.
They confounded Japanese military cryptologists during World War
II and participated in all assaults the Marines led in the
Pacific from 1942 to 1945, including at Guadalcanal, Tarawa,
Peleliu and Iwo Jima.
The Code Talkers sent thousands of messages without error on
Japanese troop movements, battlefield tactics and other
communications crucial to the war’s ultimate outcome.
Kinsel was born in Cove, Arizona, and lived in the Navajo
community of Lukachukai.
He enlisted in the Marines in 1942 and became an elite Code
Talker, serving with the 9th Marine Regiment and the 3rd Marine
Division during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
President Ronald Reagan established Navajo Code Talkers Day in
1982 and the Aug. 14 holiday honors all the tribes associated
with the war effort.
The day is an Arizona state holiday and Navajo Nation holiday on
the vast reservation that occupies portions of northeastern
Arizona, northwestern New Mexico and southeastern Utah.
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