Navajo Nation mourns passing of Code Talker

WINDOW ROCK - Another Navajo Code Talker has died.

Funeral services are scheduled Saturday in Lukachukai for 88-year-old Willard Varnell Oliver.

Oliver's son says his father died Wednesday at the Northern Arizona Veterans Administration Health Care System Hospital in Prescott, Ariz., after being in declining health for the past two years

Oliver grew up between Shiprock and Farmington, N.M. and graduated from the Shiprock Agricultural High School in 1940. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on March 23, 1943, and served in the South Pacific with the 2nd Marine Division. He was honorably discharged on Dec. 11, 1945.

In the fall of 1944, Oliver was wounded during the battle of Saipan.

He was wounded on his left thigh and carried a piece of shrapnel in his shoulder. He was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star, although lost much of his hearing in his left ear from the artillery explosion that wounded him.

Following the battle of Okinawa, Oliver was with the first occupational force to arrive at Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 after the U.S. had dropped the atomic bomb.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/10/14/20091014codetalker-ON.html

RIP Willard Varnell Oliver :patriot:

:patriot: :cry: :patriot:

dg

I saw the movie with Nicholas Cage and have been fascinated ever since. As with other minorities who served heroically, the honor due the Code Talkers was much delayed, sadly.

RIP Mr. Oliver.

and then I moved out here and met a few of them.

They're all humble, self effacing men who still don't realize just how important they were back then.

Safe passage, Mr. Oliver, I am privileged to have known some of your brothers.

What a frustration it must have been for our former enemies' agents who tried unsuccessfully to break our code! I have always imagined the look on their faces when they learned of the Navajo code talkers years after WWII had ended.

This is an inspiring story of what we are able to do collectively by drawing on our diverse talents. A grateful nation mourns the passing of another brave code talker.

:patriot:

place in the History books and our National memory.

:patriot:

contribution he made to the US.

Godpeed, sir. :patriot: