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Navajo Code Talker Samuel Sandoval Captivates

Levi Rickert, editor-in-chief in Native Currents. Discussion »

GRAND RAPIDS - It was the Samuel Sandoval's first visit to West Michigan, but he soon won over the overflow audience with his moving story of how the Navajo Code Talkers help to win World War II with their accuracy, speed and secrecy in communicating in a code that was unbreakable.

At eighty-eight years of age, Navajo Code Talker Samuel Sandoval may need the assistance of a cane that was beaded by his wife, but his mind is still quick and sure. He totally captivated the audience of close to seven hundred at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids on Thursday afternoon. Those in the audience listened intently as he recounted his story that eventually won him a Congressional Silver Medal.

Sandoval was the featured speaker of a program co-sponsored by Grand Valley State University, the US Attorney’s Office - Western Michigan, Marine Corps League Detachment 151 and local American Indian tribes in West Michigan on the day before Veterans Day.

700 hundred Listened

Sandoval was born in Nageezi, New Mexico, joined the US Marine Corps in 1943 when he was eighteen years old.

photo credit to Tom De Vette; posted November 12, 2011 1:30 pm est