David Tsosie, 83; Navajo code talker during World War II
David Tsosie, 83, a Navajo code talker during World War II who was awarded a Purple Heart for injuries suffered during the 1944 battle of Saipan while fighting for the Marines, died Jan. 20 in Bloomfield, N.M. The cause of death was not announced.
Navajo code talkers used their native language to transmit military messages on enemy tactics, Japanese troop movements and other battlefield information in a code the Japanese never broke.
Tsosie had been prohibited from speaking Navajo at a New Mexico boarding school where he lived for nine months of the year while he was growing up, but he learned the language at home and spoke it with friends. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1943.
The code talkers were honored with congressional medals in 2001, but Tsosie’s medal was delayed until 2002. His role had to be confirmed because of a gap in military records.
After his discharge from the military, he enrolled in Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colo. When he graduated, he went to work for uranium-mining company Kerr-McGee Corp., then for the New Mexico Department of Labor.
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