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Johnny Ray Manuelito Sr. (October 20, 1920-April 01, 1968) Was a United States Marine Sergeant who served during World War II as part of the Top Secret USMC Navajo Code Talkers Program. As a Member of the 382nd Platoon, the 1st all Navajo Platoon in Marine Corps history, that inaugural group was dubbed "The Original 29", a title that they became forever known as. In May 1942, those first 29 Navajo recruits attended boot camp. Then, at Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, California, they created the Navajo code. They developed a dictionary and numerous words for military terms. The dictionary and all code words had to be memorized during training. Of this brave group of unsung heros, Sgt. Manuelito then became 1 of the 2 of that group who stayed behind to teach the code to the next up and coming Navajo Marines. Once a Navajo code talker completed his training, he was sent to a Marine unit deployed in the Pacific theater. The code talkers' primary job was to talk, transmitting nondgrtgvfewcdxwsdefrgv bhnjrtml,r.,.likm6ujnh] on tactics and troop movements, orders and other vital battlefield communications over telephones and radios. They also acted as messengers, and performed general Marine duties.

Praise for their skill, speed and accuracy accrued throughout the war. At Iwo Jima, Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division signal officer, declared, "Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima." Connor had six Navajo code talkers working around the clock during the first two days of the battle. Those six sent and received over 800 messages, all without error.

The Japanese, who were skilled at breaking codes, remained baffled by the Navajo language. The Japanese chief of intelligence, Lieutenant General Seizo Arisue, said that while they were able to decipher the codes used by the U.S. Army and Army Air Corps, they never cracked the code used by the Marines. The Navajo code talkers even stymied a Navajo soldier taken prisoner at Bataan. (About 20 Navajos served in the U.S. Army in the Philippines.) The Navajo soldier, forced to listen to the jumbled words of talker transmissions, said to a code talker after the war, "I never figured out what you guys who got me into all that trouble were saying."

In 1942, there were about 50,000 Navajo tribe members. As of 1945, about 540 Navajos served as Marines. From 375 to 420 of those trained as code talkers; the rest served in other capacities.

Navajo remained potentially valuable as code even after the war. For that reason, the code talkers, whose skill and courage saved both American lives and military engagements, only recently earned recognition from the Government and the public.

The Navajo code talkers took part in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific front from 1942 to 1945. They served in all six Marine divisions, Marine Raider battalions and Marine parachute units, transmitting messages by telephone and radio in their native language a code that the Japanese never broke. Long unrecognized because of the continued value of their language as a security classified code, the Navajo code talkers of World War II were honored for their contributions to defense on Sept. 17, 1992, at the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.

Sgt. Manuelito Sr. participated in the capture of Iwo Jima and the occupation of Japan with the 5th Marine Division. He was awarded the American Campaign Medal, the Asian Pacific Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal. On April 1, 1968, twenty-three years after World War II, Manuelito died having never been recognized for the sacrifices he made. Fourteen members of Manuelito's family from Bishop, Calif., were present in Washington, D.C., to receive one more honor in his name, the Congressional Gold Medal, July 26, 2001. President George W. Bush awarded the medal to the original 29 World War II Navajo code talkers.

After receiving the medal in Manuelito's name, his family sought additional ways to honor his memory and the memory of his fellow code talkers. They wanted to share his honor and help ensure the story of the Navajo code talkers is never forgotten. Manuelito's family returned to the depot to bestow his Congressional Gold Medal to the Command Museum to be a centerpiece of the code talker exhibit.