The late Tom Jones Jr., Navajo Code Talker
Newspaper pays tribute to Navajo Code Talker Tom Jones Jr., who died last week at the age of 89:
Tom Jones Jr., an 89-year-old Navajo Code Talker, died at San Juan Regional Medical Center of pneumonia and other medical conditions last week. On Nov. 26, 1943, Jones was inducted into the U.S. Marine Corps 3rd Division, Unit 297. He served as a messenger with the Navajo Code Talkers 767 and the Navajo Code Talkers 642 platoons based at Camp Pendleton, Calif. During World War II, the Code Talkers used the Navajo language to create an impenetrable code that helped the Marines in every assault mounted in the Pacific between 1942 and 1945. Those battles were fought in places with names that include Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima, bitter struggles that defined the Pacific theater. According to a Naval History and Heritage Command account, "At Iwo Jima, Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division signal officer, declared, 'Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima.' Connor had six Navajo code talkers working around the clock during the first two days of the battle. Those six sent and received over 800 messages, all without error."Get the Story:
Editorial: Remember the sacrifices of Tom Jones Jr (The Farmington Daily Times 5/18) Also Today:
Navajo Code Talker Tom Jones Jr. dies in Farmington (The Farmington Daily Times 5/17)
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