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Code talker recalls heroism
By Joe Palmersheim
Published:
Monday, November 4, 2002
Media Credit: Leslie Andres
Sam Billison speaks at the Whitney Senior Center Saturday about the role he played in World War II. Billison and many other Navajo men were �code talkers.� The U.S. Marine Corps used the Navajo language to form the basis of a secret code that was never broken.
Sam Billison spoke Saturday at the Whitney Senior Center about his experiences as a Navajo code talker in World War II's Pacific Theater.
The crowd of about 350 listened intently as Billison told of his experiences as an American Indian in the Marine Corps. Billison enlisted in his senior year of high school, being told that he would leave after he got his diploma.
"The day of my graduation came, and there were people from the Marines sitting in the corner," Billison said. " When it came time for me to walk up and get my diploma, they introduced me as 'The Pride of the Marine Corps.'"
At this time, there were only two divisions of Navajo code talkers. They first saw action in 1942 during the invasion of the Solomon Islands. With Japanese expansionism still spreading in the Pacific, the code talkers' next target was Guadalcanal. Code talkers were involved in every major invasion until the end of the war.
Billison told stories of the uncertainty most of the Marines felt toward the Navajo at first. There were stories about Marines mistaking Navajo for Japanese soldiers and throwing them in the brig. The code itself was also under scrutiny, but the advantages of it soon became apparent.
When using standard code, it took over two days for a message to be delivered and decoded. With Navajo code talk, it only took two minutes. Also, the Navajo code was safer to use, because it only involved four people: the message author, the person sending the message, the person receiving and translating the message, and the person who the message was for.
When the war ended, the Navajo code talkers were told to say nothing of their experiences. It wasn't until 1968 that the story finally became declassified.
That same year, Billison and his fellow code talkers began lecturing.
They continue to lecture today, and the code talkers are in such demand that they had to hire a New York firm to handle bookings.
Of the revenues from speaking, Billison said, 50 percent go to the speaker, 30 percent go to the firm and 20 percent go to a scholarship program that now includes 500 students.
The fund can also be used to cover burial costs of fallen code talkers.
"It's just like what the Marine Corps does, only on a much smaller basis," Billison said.
The experiences of the Navajo code talkers have gained more exposure in the past few years; the 2002 movie "Windtalkers" has helped make people more aware of the crucial role the Navajo played in the war.
When asked about what he thought of "Windtalkers," Billison reflected for a moment.
"'Windtalkers' was a good war movie," he said. "Much better than those old cowboy and Indian movies."
