Here’s a story you’ll want to read in full. It’s by Holly Meyer of the Rapid City, S.D., Journal:

When the towers of the World Trade Center fell on Sept. 11, 2001, Clarence Wolf Guts asked his son to call the U.S. Department of Defense to see if the country needed his code talking abilities to find Osama Bin Laden.

Wolf Guts was in his late 70s at the time, so his son, Don Doyle, did not make the call, but said the request personified his father’s love of country.

“He still wanted to help. He was trying to still be patriotic,” Doyle said.

Wolf Guts, 86, the last surviving Oglala Lakota code talker, died Wednesday afternoon at the South Dakota State Veterans Home in Hot Springs.

A Native American code talker from World War II, Wolf Guts helped defeat Axis forces by transmitting strategic military messages in his native language, which the Japanese and Germans couldn’t translate.

“He’s the last surviving code talker from the whole (Lakota) nation. It’s going to be a little like the passing of an era,” Doyle said.

The 450 Navajo code talkers were the most famous group of Native American soldiers to radio messages from the battlefields, but 15 other tribes used their languages to aid the Allied efforts in World War II.

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Earlier today, we blogged about the objections to a memorial honoring Medal of Honor winners that unfortunately was erected on the site of a Native American village. Some groups would like to see the memorial moved to a different part of Los Angeles.

From the Chicago area comes a much more upbeat story, about the recently opened Native American Wall of Honor at Trickster Gallery.

As this Chicago Tribune story reports, it’s the second memorial to American Indian veterans in the Midwest. And, Trickster is the only arts institute in Illinois operated by Native Americans.

Joe Yazzie is the artist-in-residence this year. His stint as the gallery is fitting, given his military background: Yazzie, who grew up in New Mexico, is an Army veteran, while his brother Harold served in the Marines.

“It’s just in our blood,” he tells the Tribune. “We want to be warriors, and we tend to join the military.”

In fact, some of Yazzie’s family members are on the Wall of Honor.

“Right here, this guy, he’s my grandfather,” he tells the Tribune’s Dan Simmons, pointing to a framed photo of 37 Navajo scouts who served as military police alongside Army forces during the late-1800s campaign against Geronimo.

“And this guy here, that’s my uncle Frank,” he says, pointing to another photo on the wall of Navajo code talkers.

Some of Yazzie’s paintings feature veterans and military themes.

“They could have been doctors or lawyers,” he says of those killed in various wars. “They could have discovered things to improve our lives. But they sacrificed. Ever since, I’ve had this guilty feeling. Why them and not me?”

Gwen Florio

That will be the message Sunday when the Raiders commemorate Native American Heritage Month with a radio broadcast in Navajo, a performance by a Native dance group, and a ceremony honoring Code Talker and former Navajo Nation leader Peter MacDonald.

“We salute the Navajo Nation and the Navajo Code Talkers and we are proud to broadcast Raider games in Navajo for the fifth consecutive season,” Raiders Chief Executive Amy Trask says in this story on the team’s Web site. “We are committed to reaching our global fan base in a variety of languages and through a variety of multimedia options. Broadcasting our games in Navajo allows us to do this and also presents another opportunity to preserve the Navajo language and to salute the Navajo Code Talkers.”

MacDonald, from Teec Nos Pos, Ariz., will be honored during pregame on-field ceremonies, and Native Boogie and Beats will present a traditional dance performance.

The Raiders report that Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs will air in Navajo through an agreement with KTNN 660 AM. Ten Raider games have been broadcast in Navajo in conjunction with KTNN over the past four seasons – two in 2008, four in 2007, two in 2006 and two in 2005. L.A. Williams and Samuel Boyd, both veteran broadcasters, will call the action.

If you’re out of range, KTNN streams online here.

Some of the profits from ticket sales of Sunday’s game will go the American Indian Child Resource, Inter-tribal Friendship House, Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley and Lovelock Paiute Tribe.

Gwen Florio

The Navajo Nation is commemorating two members of the military this week, one whose long life was richly lived, the other whose life was cut far too short in Afghanistan, a tragedy compounded by the death in Iraq of his brother.

Army Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth W. Westbrook, 41, died Oct. 7 at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C., of wounds suffered last month when insurgents attacked his unit in the Ganjgal Valley of Afghanistan, the Navajo Times reports here. It’s the second loss for the Westbrook family – Kenneth’s brother, Army Sgt. Marshall A. Westbrook, 43, of Farmington, was killed Oct. 1, 2005, in Iraq.

“When his brother enlisted, there was definitely nothing stopping Ken from enlisting as well,” says a friend, Brian Victor. “If not for his brother and his dad then it was because he was instilled with the belief of patriotism

As their brother, David, says, “When Navajos are called to war, they go as warriors.”

That was certainly the case for Willard Varnell Oliver, 88, of Lukachukai, Ariz., esteemed as one of the famous Code Talkers during World War II. Oliver died Wednesday and will be buried tomorrow.
On Nov. 24, 2001, Willard Oliver was awarded the Congressional Silver Medal in Window Rock, says this Navajo Times account of his passing.

“I did not realize that until the code talkers were recognized that all the victories back during the war came about because of our Diné language,” he said.

“Sometimes I think about it,” he said. “Why did the government want to use our language when throughout BIA school we would get our mouth washed out with soap when they caught us speaking Navajo?

“I am proud to be a code talker,” he said. “And I know we counted for something great, and that we fought to maintain our freedom and for our sacred land.”

Gwen Florio

[caption id="attachment_2199" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Navajo Code Talker Rev. Ray Hawthorne salutes during the ceremony. (AP)"][/caption]

There’s a sense of urgency these days whenever one hears the words “Code Talkers.”

That’s because most of the Navajo Marines whose military messages in their own language stumped the Japanese during World War II are now in their 90s. Four recently died in the span of five weeks, according to this AP story.

That same story, though, is full of good news; namely that Chevron Mining Inc. has donated 208 acres of land to the Navajo Code Talkers Association for a museum and veterans center.

“These are some of America’s heroes,” said Chevron Mining President Fred Nelson as he signed over the land at a ceremony near the Navajo Nation capital of Window Rock, Ariz., yesterday.

The group plans to raise money for the museum, estimated to cost between $20 million and $30 million, through public and private donations. Find out how to support the effort at its Web site, here.

Gwen Florio