It took more than two decades to come to fruition, but the dream of a long-time West Valley resident, and his hopes to recognize the contributions of his Navajo community, came true on Aug. 14. In an emotional ceremony at the Utah Veterans Memorial in the city, a statue dedicated to the Navajo Code Talkers was unveiled at the memorial, which sits just south of the Utah Cultural Celebration Center.
Harry James Sr. passed away in February 2024, but not before he lobbied for years with the city to have a statue included at the Memorial. He started the West Valley Annual Powwow and was given a Key to the City. He served in the U.S. Army for three years, and he loved the role that Navajos played in the nation’s war efforts, particularly during World War II.
Code Talkers were crucial to U.S. military operations in the Pacific Theater, and the concept of using Native American languages for military communication actually went back to World War I. In 1942, Philip Johnson, a civil engineer who grew on on a Navajo reservation, proposed the idea of using the Navajo language to create a code, and the U.S. Marine Corps approved and initially recruited 29 Navajo men who became the original Code Talkers. Those soldiers were called instrumental in several key battles, including the Battle of Iwo Jima, where they transmitted over 800 messages without error…