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Navajo Code Talker David Patterson, Sr. Dies at 94

Indian Country Today
David Patterson, Sr. in 2010

One of the few remaining Navajo Code Talkers has died. David Patterson, Sr., died Sunday in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, from pneumonia. He was 94. He served in the Marine Corps in World War II and was the recipient of the Silver Congressional Medal of Honor. Funeral services are to take place in Shiprock at a time to be determined. In a statement, Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye called Patterson “a national treasure.”

Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.
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