Well deserved, Semper fi

The Army's Buffalo Soldiers and the Air Force's Tuskegee Airmen, or Red Tails, have had their day of recognition. Today the Montford Point Marines had theirs, as the Marine Corps and Congress honored 400 of the first black Marines by giving them the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation's highest civilian honor.

"This is something we didn't think we'd see in our lifetime," said 1st Sgt. William McDowell, as he received the medals on behalf of the group. He started to cry, remembering those pioneering Marines, who are no longer alive to receive this honor. He then caught himself and laughed, "My commander would have said "suck it up, Marine."

Seventy years ago when these black Marines enlisted, there were still Jim Crow laws in the South. It was 1942 and the height of World War II. President Franklin Roosevelt had ordered the military to enlist blacks the year before. The Marines were the last service to do so.

Navajo Code Talker Frank Chee Willeto

Another member of American Indian and United States history is gone.
On June 23, the Navajo Nation and Indian country received the news that Frank Chee Willeto, 87, former Navajo Nation vice president and Navajo Code Talker walked on at his home in Pueblo Pintado, New Mexico.
Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly requested the Nation flag to fly at half staff from June 25 to sundown June 28.

“I am saddened that we lost Frank Chee Willeto. He served his country and returned home and served his people in many ways. His life is an example of how to help people continuously until his last days. The Navajo Nation’s prayers and condolences are with the family of Mr. Willeto,” Shelly said in a Navajo Nation press release.

Willeto was born on June 6, 1925 in Crownpoint, New Mexico and enlisted in the U.S. Marines 6^th Division in 1944. After completing Code Talker training Willeto served in the Pacific Theater in Saipan and Okinawa. Following World War II, he returned to the Navajo Nation where he worked with the Bureau of Indian Affairs roads department from 1946 to 1974 according to the release.

He was then elected as a tribal councilman in 1974,
Willeto received the Congressional Silver Medal in 2001 for his service as a Navajo Code Talker.