Merril Sandoval
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Merril Sandoval (April 18, 1925[1] – February 9, 2008) was an American Navajo World War II veteran and a member of the Navajo Code Talkers,[1] a group of United States Marines who transmitted important messages in their native Navajo language in order to stop the Japanese from intercepting sensitive material.[2]. Sandoval took part in every Marine landing in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II from 1943 until 1945.[2]
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[edit] Early life
Merril Sandoval was born on April 18, 1925, in Nageezi, New Mexico.[1] His first language was Navajo. He attended Farmington Methodist Mission School where he learned to speak English.[1]
Sandoval's paternal clan was the Red Bottom People.[1] His maternal clan was the Zuni-Edgewater, who are also known as Naaste`ezheh Tabaaha.[1]
[edit] Navajo Code Talkers
Sandoval was only a freshman in high school when he was first approached by United States Marine recruiters.[2] His brother, Samuel Sandoval, enlisted. However, Sandoval's father, Julian Sandoval, insisted that Sandoval, who was then sixteen years old, was too young to join the Marines.[2] Sandoval was allowed to join the Marines by his father one year later.[2] He never worked with his brother, Samuel, who was also a code talker during the war.[2]
Sandoval boarded a train to Santa Fe, New Mexico, when he was 17 years old, where he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1943.[1][2] He completed boot camp in San Diego before being transferred to Camp Pendleton's Radio Communication School, where he was trained to become a code talker.[1][2]
He was initially sent to Hawaii by the Marines.[2] Throughout World War II, Sandoval served with both the 2nd and 5th Marine Divisions.[1] Sandoval's main mission was to remain behind the front lines in order to translate reports from two-man code talker teams in other parts of the battlefield.[1] He then sent the messages, which were encoded in Navajo, back to United States commanders who were based on Hawaii.[1] He also had the responsibility of passing orders to Marines on the front lines.[1]
Sandoval saw action in Iwo Jima, Saipan and Allied occupied Japan.[2] During the Battle of Iwo Jima, Sandoval's landing craft was hit by enemy fire. He and his radio company were thrown into the Pacific Ocean.[2] He managed to swim approximately 100 yards to the Iwo Jima beach, where he survived a constant barrage of shelling by the Japanese for the next twenty-four hours.[2]
Sandoval was honorably discharged from the military in March 1946 as a U.S. Marine corporal.[1] He returned to the United States in order to finish high school.[2] Sandoval and other Code Talkers were ordered to keep their work in the Pacific a secret following the war.[2] His own family did not learn about the importance of his missions until information concerning the Navajo Code Talkers was declassified in 1968.[2]
[edit] Post World War II
Sandoval married Lorraine Humetewa Shingoitewa Sandoval in 1951.[1] They had five children.[1]
Soon after his marriage, he took a job as a machinist at the Garrett Air Research in Phoenix, Arizona, where he worked for 15 years.[1] He and his family returned to the Navajo Nation in 1963, where he joined the Navajo Tribal Police Force, which he served in for three years.[1] He then became a legal advocate for D.N.A. Legal Services, a nonprofit law firm. He retired from the organization after 23 years.[1] Sandoval then worked as an interpreter for the Navajo legal courts for an additional sixteen years.[1]
[edit] Traveling Years
As an elderly man, Merril traveled across the country to places like: Washington D.C., Mississippi, Montana, California, New York State, Notre Dame, and others. He traveled to share his personal story as a Navajo Code Talker with the US Marine Corps. He continued to travel up until Fall 2007.
[edit] Death
Merril Sandoval died on February 9, 2008, at the age of 82 at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix.[1] He had been in failing health for the preceding year.[1] He and his wife of 56 years, Lorraine, had been residents of Tuba City, Arizona, for many years.[1] He was survived by his wife and four children.[1] He had 17 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.[1][2]
Sandoval received a full military burial in Flagstaff, Arizona.[1] Navajo President Joe Shirley, Jr. ordered flags to be flown at half staff from February 13 to 16 in his honor.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z "Navajo Code Talker Merril Sandoval dies at 82", Arizona Daily Sun, 2008-02-13. Retrieved on 2008-03-19.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Fonseca, Felicia. "Navajo Code Talker dead at age 82", Associated Press, Denver Post, 2008-02-11. Retrieved on 2008-03-19.
