MORGAN-RALPH

SECOND  NAVAJO  CODE  TALKER

TO  DIE  IN  WORLD  WAR  II

Prior to and during the early phases of World War II the Japanese successfully broke almost every military code being used by American forces.  To counter this extremely difficult problem, a group of 29 Navajo Indians was recruited by the Marine Corps in May 1942 for a “special assignment” with the task of originating a code that could not be understood by the enemy.  The group developed a code spoken in their native Navajo language which the Japanese never broke although they listed to radio and telephone messages, heard every word, but understood nothing that was said.

With the resounding success of the Navajo code during the Marine Corps campaign against Japanese forces in the next phase of the Pacific campaign, numerous young American Navajo Indians were recruited by the Marine Corps to become Navajo Code Talkers.  Very little historical information has been recorded concerning Ralph Morgan, but he became a Code Talker and was the second Navajo Code Talker to be killed during the war.  Morgan reportedly enlisted in the Marine Corps on October 3, 1942.  Following training at San Diego and the Navajo Code Talkers Radio School at Camp Pendleton, he was assigned to H&S Company, 2^nd Battalion, 7^th Marines, 1^st Marine Division. 

Historical records report that PFC Ralph Morgan was killed in action during the Battle of Cape Gloucester on the Island of New Britain on December 30, 1943.  Navajo Code Talkers normally worked with a companion and the Marine with Morgan when he was killed reportedly said, “It was funny the way he got killed.  The men were in a foxhole under a tree when a shell landed but didn’t explode.  It just fell apart and a large piece of shrapnel hit him right on the chin and split his head clean off.  He never knew what hit him.  We just stood there and looked at him, we didn’t know what to do.  It didn’t seem real.”

PFC Morgan was initially buried in an armed forces cemetery in New Guinea but after the cessation of hostilities with Japan, his family requested he be laid to final rest in the National Cemetery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  The work of the Navajo Code Talkers remained a closely guarded secret until being declassified in 1968.  In 2001 the Navajo Code Talkers, including PFC Morgan, were awarded the Congressional Silver Medal.  Morgan left his name and little else to remember him by, but his name is all we need to know that he was a hero.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)