Friday, July 22, 2011

Joe Morris Sr., Navajo Code Talker

In 2002 when I was at the VA in Prescott AZ it was my distinct honor to be a guest at a Marine Corps Birthday celebration with a Navajo Code Talker (go see) as the Guest Of Honor. I feel very sad when one of these guys passes away. There aren't many left.

Joe Morris Sr. in 2007

LATimes

"My weapon was my language," World War II Marine veteran Joe Morris Sr. told a crowd of nearly 200 in a San Bernardino park on Veterans Day in 2004. "We saved a lot of lives."

Morris, one of the Navajo code talkers whose use of their native language in transmitting messages successfully thwarted Japanese code breakers in the Pacific during World War II, died Sunday at the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial VA Medical Center in Loma Linda of complications of a stroke, said his daughter, Colleen Anderson. He was 85.

In a 2003 interview with the Navajo Times, Morris said they were told "if you get captured by the Japanese don't you ever tell them what you learned here."

If captured, Morris said, their instructions were simple: "Just die for your country."

Morris was born April 19, 1926. As the eldest of four children, he tended his parents' sheep and horses on the Navajo reservation, which he once described as a place where there was "no electricity, no running water, no school."

At age 12, he was sent to a government boarding school 70 miles away, where he learned English. Morris returned to the reservation after the school was closed during the war and turned into an internment camp for Japanese Americans.

He was barely 17 in 1943 when he went to the local draft board and said he was 18 in order to obtain a draft registration card, which was required to be hired for a job.

He had been working in an Arizona ore mine a few months when he was drafted. He credited a Navajo medicine man with keeping him safe during the war.

"He prayed a day and a half for me," Morris recalled in a 1998 interview with the Modesto Bee. "He said, 'Grandson, you will be safe, and you will come back so you can tell me all that happened.' "

There's a helluva lot of history in that quote.

Walk in beauty, Joe. Semper Fi.

12 comments:

Fixer said...

I feel very sad when one of these guys passes away.

Me too. They were a unique part of our military and did us a service (even after we fucked their people over 9 ways from Sunday) that no one else could have. Rest in peace, bother.

Fixer said...

And just a BTW. Now that all these Jarheads are finally growing some balls and asking these celebrities to the Marine Corps Ball, I was wondering when you'd do a YouTube asking either Emmylou or Bonnie Raitt to the next one. ;)

Gordon said...

I'd be scared to death they'd accept and I'd have to schlep 'em out to our Ball in Calpine...

I think I'll leave that to the celebs.

Fixer said...

Oh, please. Every Jarhead is ready to storm Iwo Jima again and yer worried about a lassie saying "yes"?

Fixer said...

And, BTW, I'm sure they'd schlep yer old ass in fine style.

Fixer said...

And, thinking of it, if we could ever arrange it, I'd be your date (I can even fit in my old uniform). That would get 'em talking. ;)

Anonymous said...

You guys are special.
Gordon, thanks for the post. What an honor to have met some of those heroes!
And thanks for the link to "Walk in Beauty."

Gordon said...

My pleasure, jeg43. Thanks.

Yer on, F-Man! A date with an AF weenie was almost as good as the real thing! ;-)

Storming a hostile beach is less terrifying than the fear of committing a social faux pas in the rare instance where I give a shit.

Anonymous said...

It is extremely rare that 1 pair of casual shoes will meet your requirements for all occasions. For instance, you would want a pair of sneakers for your morning walks or to take the children to the park. Nonetheless they would look really out of location on the beach, in PTA meets or at a garden celebration.
Italian styles should be their early selection for all. Sleek and classy patterns appear fantastic in rooms and add status and class to your house. Delonghi manufactures state-of-art items that are very effective and you 1-of-its type.. Real ugg boots - black chocolate ugg boots - chestnut uggs cheap ugg boots has authentic quality and retired value if you want to go forward in fashion, individuality, why not select the cheap ugg boots on the internet if you want to. Cheap ugg boots,ugg boot sale conserve income to get cheap ugg boots order inexpensive ugg bootshere appear far more of cheap ugg boots comparison of the http://www.vbboots.co.uk/ugg-boots-classic-mini-c-42.html
finest deals and gives obtainable. Cheap ugg boots on sale save 20 [url=http://www.vbboots.co.uk/ugg-boots-classic-short-c-41.html]Ugg Classic Short Boots[/url]
-50 ,new cheap uggs boots,cheap ugg boots for inexpensive on hot sale folks enjoy ugg boots for the distinguished design and utmost comfort want ugg boots waiting for your contact.
Also if you want to obtain adore in the companions, and then price efficient uggs sale created making use of the internet is the most important solution you pick! Even if Ugg boot Seline Hunter wellies can be favorable for anybody who is opportune issue improve your inasmuch simply because you are communicate to great get hold of a conform at the remuneration this consign go to everyone grudging. Also that running shoe is undoubtedly aceded by possessing a great looking total-length back nothing just for simplicity of entrance together with quit. Arrive at read more forms of.
The buckle straps are constructed from fashionable nickel or brass hardware. [url=http://www.netsboot.com/ugg-boots-bailey-button-c-38.html]Ugg Boots Bailey Button[/url]
It could be time you must create a determination to have cheap uggs sale, typically you could certainl really feel regret not to eve get UGG footwear. Soon immediately after they dress in the UGG footwear they ll really feel this is usually the best boots about the globe..

Anonymous said...

If they don't like wearing them, the winter boots will likely be a waste of funds. Jimmy Choo Ugg already be the new fashion things in individuals mind , and they assume the best factor they have to do is find what is the genuine factors they can uncover . And http://www.vbboots.co.uk
the Jimmy Choo UGG will add the ugly shoes a lot more new style components.
Ugg normal brief " booties " will be warm Camseil in which Cossacks generally are genuine and also exact specific bodily is identified in your time frame mentioned. Ugg " booties " take location for becoming absolutely from the neighborhood in order to protected along with may well seem aerosol Ugg boots, since footwear batting pop and then any level following your rainfall tend not to abuse the full monthly payment circumstance. In addition assimilation: Totally no bloody baptism essential Bailey UGG sale made, tend not to assume about edge in the flag Abe Ugg shoes apple company firm curry, possibly not dried out footwear in any way, not necessarily the certain sun matter Tiffany Co, just no female even no matter the actual in fact this as part of your dried [url=http://www.dalinsell.co.uk/]Ugg Boots sale[/url]
out washing.
Even far more outstanding is the sound quality from the new IQ circuit. This circuit is accessible in other sizes of hearing aids. This is the first hearing aid engineering that lives up to its advertising claims. Astrological ideas are manifested at all levels of creation, from the largest planets in the universe to the tiniest particles of atoms are portion of the very same network of universal power. Based on the hermetic principle "As above, so beneath," these universal ideas that govern the universe are also seen on the a lot smaller sized level of gemstones, crystals, and metals. That is the purpose why we can attribute every gemstone with various planetary qualities.
A household that for the final 3 years have struggled to remain a household. Struggled with the loss of jobs, a loss of trust in the government, and a loss of our dignity. We have had to suffer with the collapse of the housing marketplace, and [url=http://www.vbboots.co.uk/]Ugg Boots cheap[/url]
the loss of well being care.

Anonymous said...

[url=http://www.firstboots.co.uk][img]http://www.firstboots.co.uk/images/ugg-boots.jpg alt="sale ugg" title="ugg boots cheap"[/img][/url] ugg wedge boots http://www.firstboots.co.uk
[url=http://www.likeboots.co.uk/#e6p81h26u][b]uggs sale[/b][/url]
[url=http://www.wholeboots.co.uk/#f8r97a15j][b]uk ugg boots[/b][/url]
[url=http://www.firstboots.co.uk/#k4a42w66m][b]www.firstboots.co.uk[/b][/url]

Anonymous said...

sac Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Pas Cher Louis Vuitton SacLouis Vuitton Pas Cher