NAVAJO  CODE  TALKER

John Pinto was born in Lupton, Apache County, Arizona, on December 15, 1924, the same year that Native Americans were recognized as United States citizens but remained without the power to vote.  He was the oldest of seven children born to a family of Navajo sheep herders and he did not start formal schooling until nearly a teenager.  At the age of 12 he was enrolled at the Bureau of Indian Affairs operated school in Fort Defiance, Arizona.  Because of his late education start, he was placed in beginner classes with students ages 5-7 and in later years he enjoyed saying, “That was the last time I was the biggest one in the room.”

During World War II, Pinto enlisted in the Marine Corps and although his education had been limited, he was assigned to duty as a Navajo Code Talker because this was his native language which he regularly spoke.  During the war, approximately 400 Navajo Code Talkers were assigned to use their native language to outsmart the Japanese as they talked sending messages in code which was never broken.  Historical records reflect that the war may have ended before Pinto was deployed and he thus may have never participated in combat operations.

Following Pinto’s discharge, historical records report he had to take an English test four times before he was finally admitted into the University of New Mexico’s College of Education from which he graduated with a degree in elementary education.  He later earned a masters degree, becoming a teacher and a truancy officer in Gallup, New Mexico.  Delving into politics to address the needs of impoverished indigenous population, Pinto was elected a New Mexico State Senator in 1976, becoming the state’s first Native American senator.  In January 1977, driving in a snowstorm, another senator picked up a middle-aged man hitchhiker in Albuquerque and was surprised to learn the man was John Pinto, also a senator, who was headed to Santa Fe to serve his first term in the Senate.

John Pinto continued his duties as a State Senator until his death in Gallup on May 24, 2019, earning the distinction as New Mexico’s longest serving State Senator.  Every time Pinto ran for reelection, even if he was unopposed, he campaigned vigorously as he was determined to prove his worth.  He was widely known as a dedicated public servant who saw the needs of Native Americans and of people living in poverty, and never wavered in his efforts to be of service to them.  Upon his death the New Mexico governor praised Pinto for his “towering legacy” and called him a “New Mexico icon and an American hero.”  Following a funeral service with full military honors in Gallup, Pinto was laid to rest at a private burial ceremony at the Pinto Family Cemetery in Tohatchi, New Mexico.

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