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December 2019
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Code talker honored at veterans luncheon Veteran suicide rate complicated – solution shouldn’t be

by learning the Morse Code and how by answers. In fact, figures show that the
STEPHEN DELGADO to hook telephone wires to trees, LISA SMITH MOLINARI “It’s time to stop trying, and simply rate of suicide in VA medical centers is
but the highlight of what these 29 lower than the private sector. After the VA
Thunderbolt staff writer themeatandpotatoesoflife.com
recruits achieved was the develop- made prevention its top clinical priority,
There are fewer and fewer World ment of a military code. Last month, another U.S. military start doing.” the rate of suicide in VA hospitals has
War II veterans as the years roll “The code was subject to memory veteran took his own life on a Veteran’s dropped more than 80 percent and 419
along. The same plight is true of only, and we would be the only ones Administration campus. This is the sixth of 466 suicide attempts in 2019 on VA
the Navajo Code Talkers whose who knew the code,” MacDonald veteran suicide in the public areas of first year after separation, and an in- pointed fingers at the VA before pointing campuses were stopped.
living survivors are in single digits. said. “Navajo wasn’t a written Florida’s Bay Pines VA facility in the last teragency task force was established in weapons at themselves. However, of the 17 veterans who kill
One of the last surviving code language, so we had to come up six years. This latest incident is also part March to tackle the issue — the fact re- Army veteran John Toombs posted, “I themselves every day, 10.4 don’t use VHA
talkers delivered the keynote with our own words for the alpha- of the ever-growing rate of veteran sui- mains that 17 “Title 38 Veterans” and four dared to dream again. Then you showed services at all.
address at the Veterans Medical bet. Navajo words were selected to cides each year, and part of a nationwide active-duty, Reserve and Guard members me the door faster than last night’s gar- So far, promising improvements in VA
Leadership Council’s 17th Annual represent each letter in the English increase in suicides among all adults. kill themselves every day. That’s one death bage,” before hanging himself outside the care have not resulted in real progress in
Heroes Patriotic Luncheon Nov. 8 alphabet. Easy to remember words Is the increase in veteran suicides a di- every minute and eight seconds. Murfreesboro, Tennessee, VA hospital, the overall crisis. No matter how many
at the Arizona Biltmore Resort in were chosen.” rect result of the surge in the U.S.’s overall In news stories about the rash of vet- where he had been kicked out of treatment experts weigh in, no matter how many
Phoenix. However, he said another prob- adult suicide rate? Unfortunately, it’s not eran suicides on VA campuses across for not following instructions. task forces are created, no matter how
Peter MacDonald, 90, a larger lem had to be solved and that was Courtesy photo that simple. the U.S., experts postulated that suicide Two years later, investigators found a many variables are studied, no matter
than life figure, took the audience punctuation. Terms for punctua- Navajo Code Talker Peter MacDonald at Monument Valley on the Navajo National Reservation on the The suicide rates announced in the lat- victims blame the VA. suicide note near the uniformed body of how many veterans kill themselves on VA
on a trip of the origins of the Na- tion were developed. Utah-Arizona border. est Veterans’ Administration report are Eric Caine, director of the Injury Con- Marine Col. Jim Tuner outside Florida’s campuses, no one can make any sense of
vajo Code Talkers and how they In August 1942, 13 code talkers the result of a complex evaluation of age, trol Research Center for Suicide Preven- Bay Pines VA facility. this complex trend.
helped to win some of the fiercest were part of the landing that took gender, finances, U.S. population increase, tion at the University of Rochester, told “I bet if you look at the 22 suicides a Instead of putting any more resources
and bloodiest battles in military place at Guadalcanal. The code veteran population decrease, military duty the Washington Post after a series of VA day you will see VA screwed up in 90%,” toward unraveling the impossible tangle
history. worked. More code talkers were status, treatment status, changes in study parking lot suicides last year, “These sui- Turner wrote before turning a rifle on of causes and variables, perhaps the
Not only that, he and his fellow recruited, and the Navajo code criteria and other variables. The rising cides are sentinel events. It’s very impor- himself. government should fund simple, common-
code talkers were a secret weapon became the official code for the rest veteran suicide rates must be analyzed tant for the VA to recognize that the place The following April, three more veter- sense preventive measures: Standardize
that was an instrumental part of of the war, MacDonald said. in context with so many other factors; it’s of a suicide can have great meaning. There ans killed themselves at VA campuses. VA quality control and bring low-rated fa-
winning the war in the Pacific. The Navajo code talkers per- almost impossible to draw meaningful is a real moral imperative and invitation One victim shot himself in the crowded cilities up to par. Institute more outreach
He began his speech by thanking formed their mission with skill, conclusions from the data. here to take a close inspection of the qual- lobby of a Texas VA outpatient clinic, to at-risk veterans who do not use VHA.
everyone who has served in the speed and accuracy, he said. Despite sincere efforts to address the ity of services at the facility level.” which was seen by most as an obvious Give VA staff better training in suicide
military. MacDonald served with He noted that Maj. Howard Con- crisis — Trump signed an executive order Caine’s theory might be a desperate message. prevention strategies.
the 6th Marine Division in World nor, 5th Marine Division signal of- in 2018 allowing all veterans to receive shot at simplifying the veteran suicide Despite the blame some have placed It may not be that simple, but it’s time
War II. ficer, had six code talkers working mental health care during the high-risk conundrum; however, veterans themselves squarely on the VA, there are no easy to stop trying, and simply start doing.
MacDonald said there was a seri- continuously throughout the first
ous problem with communications two days of the Battle of Iwo Jima.
at the beginning of the war, and They sent more than 800 messages,
that the Japanese were breaking all without error. u.S. Marine Corps
all details of every code. It would Connor later said, “Were it not Cpl. Henry Bahe Jr., left, and Pvt. 1st Class George Kirk, Navajo
take awhile to persuade Marine for the Navajos, the Marines would Code Talkers serving with a Marine Signal Unit, operate a portable
officials that Navajo Code Talkers never have taken Iwo Jima.” radio set in a jungle clearing, close behind the front lines on the
could profoundly help solve the MacDonald finished his tour island of Bougainville in New Guines, (present-day Papua New
The VMLC was founded
communications dilemma. with the Marines in North China Guinea) in December 1943. in 1999 to support veteran
Philip Johnson, a World War I and would have a plethora of
veteran and son of a missionary accomplishments in civilian life advocacy with its primary
couple, was raised on the Navajo including being awarded the Con- mission being to ensure
reservation and spoke the Navajo gressional Silver Medal and earn- quality medical and men-
language fluently. He proposed the ing an engineering degree from tal health care for Marico-
pa County veterans and to
use of the language to the Marines the University of Oklahoma. He encourage initiatives that
at the start of the war, MacDonald also served as the Chairman of
said. the Navajo Nation Council from honor the contributions
Unfortunately, at the time Ma- 1970 to 1989. made to the city, state and
rine officials knew nothing of Nava- In all, he summed up the legacy nation by veterans and the
men and women serving in
jo life and were afraid the Marines the code talkers have in history. the military.
could be embarrassed. Finally, in “The Navajo code is a unique
April 1942 the idea was given the World War II legacy. It was used in The VMLC is strongly
green light, and the formation of a all Pacific battles to transmit top committed to providing
code talker platoon became a top- secret and confidential messages. a much-needed financial
safety net for those veter-
secret project, he said. The Navajo code, commissioned by ans needing a hand up, not
There were initially 29 Navajo the United States Marines Corps,
recruits who attended basic train- saved hundreds of thousands of a handout, during their dif-
ing in May 1942. They were part lives and helped to shorten the ficult transition back into
of a separate platoon and were the war in the Pacific. It is the only society. This assistance
helps provide housing,
number one platoon. military code in modern history, food and transportation
Part of the platoon’s training was never broken by the enemy.”
to medical appointments,
rehabilitation, job training
and interviews.
During the early months of World War II, American military The VMLC president is
leaders were confounded by how quickly Japanese cryptologists Sam Young, who retired in
were breaking the secret codes of the U.S. Armed Forces. An enter- 1994 from Luke Air Force
prising engineer, who had grown up on the Navajo Reservation, Base as the Mission Sup-
persuaded Marine Corps commanders in San Diego to recruit port Group commander,
Navajos to develop an unbreakable code for communications in the with the rank of colonel.
Pacific campaign. The unwritten Navajo language was unknown For more information
to the Japanese. The Marines recruited and trained 421 Navajos on the Veterans Medical
to serve in all six Marine divisions fighting in the Pacific, and the Leadership Council, e-mail
Code Talkers’ transmissions are credited as one of the key reasons National Archives them at info@arizonavmlc.
the United States defeated the Japanese in World War II. The first 29 Navajo Code Talker recruits being sworn in 1942 at org.
Fort Wingate, New Mexico.