At 93, Navajo Code Talker Samuel Sandoval is Still Fighting Strong

KSJD | By Austin Cope

Published August 18, 2017 at 7:45 AM MDT

Monday, August 14th was Navajo Code Talkers Day. It honored the men who served in the South Pacific during World War II, developing a code based on their native language to send communications during the battle. It is the only language-based code in history to never have been broken. World War II Code Talker Samuel Sandoval visited the Sunflower Theatre here in Cortez on Monday. After a screening of a documentary about his life, he spoke to an overflow crowd in the theatre about his experiences in the war and after he came home to become a drug counselor in the Navajo Nation. I sat down with him after the event to learn more about him and his perspectives on life today.

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Austin Cope

Austin Cope is a former Morning Edition host for KSJD and now produces work on a freelance basis for the station. He grew up in Cortez and hosted a show on KSJD when he was 10 years old. After graduating from Montezuma-Cortez High School in 2010, he lived in Belgium, Ohio, Spain, northern Wyoming, and Himachal Pradesh, India before returning to the Cortez area. He has a degree in Politics from Oberlin College in Ohio.

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