GLEASON-JIMMIE

NAVAJO  CODE  TALKER

 

During the early days of World War II a senior Marine Corps officer approved the formation of a project to develop a code using the Navajo language.  The project developed the Navajo Code which became highly successful as the Japanese were thoroughly confused by it and never succeeded in breaking the code.  The code has been credited with being very instrumental in helping the Marines during their successful victories in capturing islands from the Japanese.  The Navajo Code Talkers were assigned to combat units where they sent and received messages during battles.  It was a dangerous assignment and during World War II a number of the Talkers were killed in action as bullets and explosives were hurled their way.  During the war their work was considered highly classified, they were cautioned to keep their roles secret and it was not until 1968 that the program was declassified and they were free to discuss their duties. 

 

In 1981 the book ”NAVAJO WEAPON – THE NAVAJO CODE TALKERS” was published and the author interview Melissa Gleason, widow of CPL Jimmie Gleason, who was a Code Talker during the 1945 battle of Iwo Jima during which CPL Gleason was injured and lay wounded in a foxhole for two days before he was evacuated.  Mrs. Gleason said, “Jimmie and Paul Kinlaheheeny, a fellow Code Talker, were running messages when they got hit.  Machine gun fire caught both of them.  Paul was hit right across the stomach and Jimmie was shot in the left ankle.  Paul’s last words to Jimmie were, ‘Tell my folks.’  Jimmie crawled into a shell hole and that was where he saw the flag being raised on Mount Suribachi.  He was trapped in the middle of crossfire and no one could get to him for two days.  The Gallup Independent newspaper reported that Jimmie had been killed in action.  I saw the article and cut it out, but I never believed he was dead.  Sure enough, about two weeks later I was notified that he was alive but seriously wounded.  The bone in his left ankle had been shattered.  About six months after the war was over they had to amputate his leg just below the knee.  Jimmie liked being a Marine.  Even after he had been wounded he said that if they ever needed him again, he would go back.  He liked using his language and was very proud to serve his country.”

 

CPL Gleason died on August 1, 1975, in the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Gallup, New Mexico.  He was buried in the Rehoboth Mission Cemetery in Rehoboth, New Mexico.  In 2001 he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Silver Medal in recognition of his service as a Navajo Code Talker.

 

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