Navajo Nation for COVID-19 outbreak

Doctors Without Borders sent to Navajo Nation for COVID-19 outbreak

Associated Press
May 12, 2020

With roughly 175,000 people on the reservation, which straddles Arizona, New Mexico and a small corner of Utah, the Navajo Nation has seen 3,122 cases – a rate of nearly 18 cases per 1,000 people. At least 100 people have died.

Raynelle Hoskie attaches a hose to a water pump to fill tanks in her truck outside a tribal office on the Navajo reservation in Tuba City, Ariz., on April 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

TUBA CITY, Ariz. (TEGNA/AP) — The largest Native American reservation in the U.S. has some of the highest rates of coronavirus infections in the country.

The Navajo Nation has a population of roughly 175,000 and spans three western states. The tribe has seen more than 3,100 cases, and at least 100 people have died.

The organization Doctors Without Borders sent medical professionals to New Mexico to help the hard-hit Navajo Nation, according to national news outlets. CNN and CBS reported that the nine-person team arrived in late April to work with the Native American community.

"There are many situations in which we do not intervene in the United States, but this has a particular risk profile," said Jean Stowell, head of the organization's U.S. COVID-19 Response Team, to CBS.

The virus arrived on the reservation in early March, when late winter winds were still blowing off the mesas and temperatures at dawn were often barely above freezing.
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Why should you care? Aside from the fact they are the original Americans...they, along with others contributed to making this nation what it is.

Navajo Code Talkers and the Unbreakable Code

Native American Medal of Honor Recipients going back to 1875

Native American Veterans Memorial Built To Recognize The Bravest Native Warriors To Ever Wear A Uniform

Source: YouTube/Gary Robinson
The Native American Veerans Memorial and the “Warrior’s Circle of Honor” will be dedicated on Veterans Day, 2020.

Navajo Code Talker Thomas H. Begay survived WWII and PTSD

Navajo Code Talker Thomas H. Begay wanted to be a gunner. Here's how he became a Code Talker

Arizona Republic
Shondiin Silversmith
Aug. 29, 2019

ONE OF THE LAST SURVIVING NAVAJO CODE TALKERS THOMAS H. BEGAY SHARES HIS STORY ABOUT HIS SERVICE IN THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS.

Ronald said his father suffers from a post-traumatic stress disorder and has flashbacks of his time during his service at Iwo Jima. "It's still with him," Ronald said. "He still thinks about it."

Navajo Code Talker Thomas H. Begay (right) before the start of the Navajo Nation Code Talkers Day parade on Aug. 14, 2018, at the Navajo Nation Fairgrounds in Window Rock. (Photo: Mark Henle/The Republic)

About a month after the battle of Iwo Jima in 1945, Navajo Code Talker Thomas H. Begay was flown to Pearl Harbor for a week. He wasn't told why and he didn't ask questions.

He was taken to the United State Naval base on Pearl Harbor with fellow Navajo Code Talker Wilson H. Price. Once they arrived, they met a Navy lieutenant at the communication center. He led Begay and Price to a round building filled with various vaults.

The vaults were opened. From inside, wagons full of paper were brought to the Code Talkers.

"It was all the messages sent (and received) on Iwo Jima," he said.

Begay said the lieutenant kept an eye on them and took notes of the entire process. After hundreds of messages, they were told the purpose of their task: to determine if there were any mistakes in any of the messages the Navajo Code Talkers sent and received throughout the Iwo Jima operation.

"800 messages we went through," Begay said. "There were no mistakes."
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John Pinto, a Navajo Code Talker passed away

WWII Code Talker and longtime NM lawmaker dies at 94

The Associated Press
By: Morgan Lee and Mary Hudetz
May 26, 2019

An unassuming appearance and manner belied Pinto's political determination that carried him through 42 years in the Legislature. Laurie Canepa, the senior librarian for the Legislative Council Service, said that made him the longest serving senator in state history.

In this Feb. 2, 2018, file photo Democratic New Mexico state Sen. John Pinto talks about his career as a lawmaker on American Indian Day in the Legislature on in Santa Fe, N.M. (Morgan Lee/AP)

SANTA FE, N.M. — John Pinto, a Navajo Code Talker in World War II who became one of the nation’s longest serving Native American elected officials as a New Mexico state senator, has died. He was 94.

Senate colleague Michael Padilla confirmed Pinto's death in Gallup on Friday after years of suffering from various illnesses that rarely kept him from his duties.

After serving as a Marine, Pinto was elected to the Senate in 1976 and represented a district that includes the Navajo Nation for more than four decades. The region is one of the poorest in the country.

"Words cannot express the sadness we feel for the loss of a great Diné warrior," said Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez, using the indigenous word for Navajo. "He dedicated his life to helping others."
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Camp Pendleton Marines Honor Navajo Code Talkers

Navajo Code Talkers return to the Blue Diamond 
DVIDS
Story by Cpl. Demetrius Morgan
October 2, 2015

Major Gen. Daniel O’Donohue, commanding general, 1st Marine Division, pays respect to retired Navajo Code Talkers during a tour with the Navajo Nation aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., Sept. 28, 2015. Navajo Code Talkers were first put into action during World War II in early 1942 to establish an undecipherable code which could be used in combat environments to communicate sensitive information. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Demetrius Morgan/RELEASED)

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – Retired Marines who served as Navajo Code Talkers during World War II and members of the Navajo Nation visited the 1st Marine Division during a tour aboard Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California, Sept. 28, 2015.

Marines with the division hosted a ceremony to honor the code talkers for their pivotal service World War II.

“It’s an honor to have you here today,” said Maj. Gen. Daniel O’Donohue, the commanding general of the division. “The Navajo nation provided a duty that no one else could at that time. You humble us by returning to the division. The sacrifices you made we can’t even imagine and your legacy and your spirit live on.”

Navajo Code Talkers were first put into action in early 1942 to establish an undecipherable code, which could be used in combat environments to communicate sensitive information.

The Navajo code was selected because of its difficulty and obscurity and was deciphered by enemies of that time. This allowed commanders to issue out commands securely in the heat of battle against the imperial Japanese enemies. The code remained secret until it was declassified in 1968.
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Marine Sgt. Lance Davison OEF-OIF Veteran PTSD Fallen Warrior

TO VETERANS WITH COMBAT PTSD

If you think your life no longer matters, watch this video. If you think no one cares, watch this video. If you think there is nothing you can do anymore to contribute to society, watch this video. Look at all the people showing up for Lance Davison. Most of them probably didn't know him personally.

All they had to know was that he risked his life for others and paid the price. The battle he fought publicly was fought in Afghanistan and Iraq along side of his "brothers" but the battle he fought personally was fought alone.

The final battle after war does not have to be lost. Learn what it is, seek help, heal so you can fight to save the lives of others. Your job isn't done. Your "brothers" are still counting on you!

Your family is too but they may not understand what you are going through or how to help you. Talk to them. Tell them what you need and how they can support you. Don't push them away. Isn't it time families stopped filling graves after war because of it?

Flagstaff Veteran Becomes a Fallen Warrior
NAZToday
Published on Feb 24, 2014

February 24, 2014 - NAZ Today reporter Kimberly Craft discusses the battle veterans face after they return home. Service men and women returning home from combat too often face a world of isolation and difficulty managing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. One Flagstaff veteran's world came apart with a disastrous ending due to PTSD. Hundreds of people came out on Saturday to lay Marine Sgt. Lance Davison to rest.

Davison received full military honors in a ceremony that included traditions from his Navajo past. The 34-year-old served in Afghanistan and Iraq and his experiences there led to a losing battle with PTSD and brain injuries sustained in combat.

Davison took his own life after fighting PTSD for more than a decade.

Davison's father, John Davison, hopes that this tragedy will not be seen as negative but as a message of hope and the need to address the severity of PTSD.

Twenty-two veterans commit suicide each year in the United States. Arizona Representative Ann Kirkpatrick comments on a recent visit to servicemen and women in Afghanistan and how she looked for answers to what could be done to help the transition from combat to home.

Staff Sgt. Jonathan D. Davis, 14th Navajo killed in Afghanistan

Marine is 14th member of Navajo Nation to die in Afghanistan
By Alex Pena
Stars and Stripes
Published: February 26, 2013

The Marine who died in Afghanistan on Friday has been identified as Staff Sgt. Jonathan D. Davis, a Navajo from Kayenta, Ariz.

Davis, 34, died Feb. 22 while conducting operations in Helmand province, according to a Department of Defense news release. He was assigned to Headquarters Battalion, 32nd Georgian Liaison Team, Regimental Combat Team 71st Marine Division, 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Davis was killed in a bomb attack while working as the liaison for the Georgian military, which has been partnered with the Marines in Helmand province for several years.

According to the Navajo Square, an online community site for the Navajo Nation, Davis is the 14th Navajo to be killed while serving in Afghanistan.
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Navajo man wants the nation to hear its official apology

Navajo man wants the nation to hear its official apology
By Moni Basu
CNN
December 19th, 2012

(CNN) – Buried on page 45 of the 2010 Defense Appropriations Act, after pages on the maintenance and operation of the U.S. military, is an official apology to Native American people.

Mark Charles, a member of the Navajo Nation, stumbled onto the apology about a year ago after he heard GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney say that he would never apologize for America. That comment didn't sit well with Charles - nobody is perfect, he thought.

He wrote a blog post that cited several situations in which he believed it was prudent for America to say sorry. One of them was to native people.

In rare apology, House regrets exclusionary laws targeting Chinese

A reader responded that such an apology had already been issued. Charles went online and found the 2010 Defense Act.

The United States, acting through Congress ... recognizes that there have been years of official depredations, ill-conceived policies, and the breaking of covenants by the federal government regarding Indian tribes; apologizes on behalf of the people of the United States to all native peoples for the many instances of violence, maltreatment, and neglect inflicted on native peoples by citizens of the United States ...

It went on to urge the president to acknowledge the wrongs.
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Navajo Code Talkers Exhibit

Sedona Arizona Visitors Enjoy
— Navajo Code Talkers Exhibit

Sedona, AZ: Japanese photographer Kenji Kawano, born in Fukuoka in 1949, was not yet born when a group of modern-day Navajo warriors, known as the Code Talkers, defied Japanese intelligence during World War II. By communicating in their own language, the Navajo Code Talkers provided the U.S. Marines with an unbreakable code.


Now, more than a half century later, Kenji Kawano’s photographs capture the spirit of those Navajo Code Talkers, whose code was never broken. “Warriors: Navajo Code Talkers,” at the Museum of Northern Arizona through Sunday, October 9, is an exhibit of 20 black and white photographs, each a handcrafted, gelatin-silver print on archival-quality paper.
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Paperwork delaying funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Alejandro J. Yazzie

Paperwork delaying funeral of Marine from Arizona
The Associated Press
Posted: 02/22/2010 02:37:32 PM PST
Updated: 02/22/2010 02:37:32 PM PST


WINDOW ROCK, Ariz.—Military paperwork has delayed the release of the remains of a Marine from the Navajo Nation who was killed in Afghanistan.

Marine officials say the remains of 23-year-old Lance Cpl. Alejandro J. Yazzie, of Rock Point, Ariz., likely will be released later this week from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. says he'll issue an official proclamation ordering flags on the reservation to be flown at half-staff in Yazzie's honor as soon as funeral arrangements are announced.

The Defense Department says Yazzie died Feb. 16 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. That's the site of a major offensive by U.S. and Afghan forces against the Taliban.

Yazzie was assigned to 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. His coffin arrived at Dover last Thursday.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14449531?nclick_check=1

FBI think nun was murdered on Navajo reservation

Death of nun investigated as a murder
November 2, 2009 8:07 p.m. EST

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Body of Sister Marguerite Bartz, 64, found Sunday on Navajo reservation in New Mexico
Her home had been broken into and her car stolen
FBI looking for her beige 2005 HONDA CR-V with N.J. plate NF24821
Diocese: She was known to be a woman always passionate for justice, peace

(CNN) -- Federal officials said Monday they are seeking information about the killing of a 64-year-old nun whose body was found Sunday on the Navajo reservation in northwest New Mexico.

Sister Marguerite Bartz's body was found in her convent in Navajo, New Mexico, in a remote area of the Four Corners region, said Lee Lamb, communications director for the diocese. Her home had been broken into and her car stolen, Lamb said.

According to the FBI, which has jurisdiction, Bartz was killed between Halloween night and Sunday morning. When she did not appear at Sunday Mass, a colleague checked on her and found her body.
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http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/02/new.mexico.dead.nun/index.html

'His family is proud of him,' says dad of Ft. Lewis soldier

'His family is proud of him,' says dad of Ft. Lewis soldier
A 21-year-old soldier based at Fort Lewis has been killed in Afghanistan.

By The Associated Press and Seattle Times staff

An Army team carries the remains of Army Spc. Troy Orion Tom at Dover Air Force Base, Del., on Friday. Spec Tom was based at Fort Lewis.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A 21-year-old soldier based at Fort Lewis has been killed in Afghanistan.

Army Spec. Troy Orion Tom was described by his mother as someone who made everyone smile. His father remembered him as an outgoing man with an interest in the outdoors and art.

His parents, Navajo Nation Council Delegate David Tom of Beclabito-Cudii and his wife, Carolyn Tom, flew to Dover Air Force Base, Del., for a brief ceremony Thursday night when the body of their son was brought back to the United States.

"Right now he's just our hero," David Tom said Friday. "His family is all proud of him that he was out there, serving his country."
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/obituaries/2009710688_soldierkilled22m.html

Navajo WWII Marine, Code Talker big hit at Yokosuka Naval Base’s elementary school

Kids tune in to ‘code talker’
A piece of living history visited Yokosuka Naval Base’s elementary school Wednesday to give students a first-hand account of his role in World War II. Samuel Smith, a Navajo and former Marine, was a member of the so-called "code talkers," who transmitted secret, tactical messages using their native language over military telephones and radios.
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Navajo medicine man Albert Laughter ancient ways go around the world

Courtesy/Walter T. Cody, Bob Stump VA Medical Center Arlene Gregorius, British Broadcasting Corporation producer, records Albert Laughter, Navajo medicine man, for an upcoming documentary on the integration of traditional American Indian ceremonies into the Bob Stump VA Medical Center’s mental health program for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Ancient ways go around the world
By Derek Meurer, The Daily Courier

Monday, December 17, 2007

PRESCOTT - To Navajo medicine man Albert Laughter post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a curse.

Standing before a roaring fire, with an eagle feather, a bamboo flute, clay pipes and herbs in hand, Laughter uses lore handed down from generation to generation to remove the curse war leaves in the mind.

"When we leave the land and ways we know to take up a rifle and kill, we are cursed. We use tradition to remove that curse," said Laughter. "The ceremony for veterans with PTSD usually takes three days, sometimes longer; there's so much mental anguish and anger to deal with."

Laughter works with the Bob Stump VA Medical Center's mental health department, where he incorporates traditional American Indian ceremonies into the treatment of mental disorders. He comes from five generations of medicine men, dating back to the time of the Trail of Tears.

After fighting for the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, Laughter dealt with his own PTSD experiences.

"The curse comes mostly at night, when they're isolated, when it's quiet," said Laughter. "It seems like someone's touching you, like someone's watching you, like you're back in the jungle, and the enemy is all around you."

Laughter said the ceremony translates to "Beautiful Way," a process of cleansing the lingering spirits of war and helping a soul reintegrate into a peaceful life.

"We say to the earth: 'I'm your child, I want to be reborn, to be cleansed,'" said Laughter. "We rid ourselves of those burdens the war placed on our hearts, and are welcomed back to the earth, the fire, the songs, and to family."

Cleansing Wounded Warriors

Federal government taps ancient healing methods to treat native American soldiers
The veterans administration teams up with medicine men to use sweat lodges and talking circles to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder.
By JENnifer miller Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the September 13, 2007 edition

Page 1 of 3
Rock Spring, N.M. - In a dusty lot on the Navajo reservation, a cleansing ceremony is about to take place. Women sit on rickety chairs outside a hogan, (a circular, squat Navajo home with a dirt floor). A line of parked cars sizzle in the Southwestern sun. Suddenly, a pack of horses rushes into view. They stop just short of the hogan, their hooves beating up a cloud of dust.
A man appears in the doorway – an unassuming figure, dressed in a work shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots. He is a medicine man who has spent decades learning ancient Navajo healing techniques. He waits for the lead rider – the patient – to dismount and then ushers him inside.
For the next hour, the spiritual leader, Alfred Gibson, conducts an "enemy way" ceremony, a form of Navajo therapy that cleanses physically and mentally ill individuals by forcing them to confront their pain.
The technique is increasingly being used across the American West to help native American soldiers deal with the traumas of war..................