ALLEN DALE JUNE DIED LAST WEEK AT THE VETERANS HOSPITAL IN PRESCOTT ARIZONA.  HE WAS ONE OF THE ORIGINAL CODE TALKERS.

THE CODE TALKERS WERE NAVAJO INDIANS WHO SERVED OUR COUNTRY BY TRANSMITTING MESSAGES IN THEIR (NAVAJO) NATIVE LANGUAGE.  THEY TOOK PART IN EVERY ASSAULT THE MARINES CONDUCTED IN THE PACIFIC FROM 1942 TO 1945.  THEY SENT THOUSANDS OF MESSAGES WITHOUT ERROR ABOUT JAPANESE TROOP MOVEMENTS AND OTHER INFORMATION CRITICAL TO THE WAR EFFORT.

EX-MARINE SGT. JUNE RECEIVED THE CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL IN 2001 ALONG WITH OTHER MEMBERS OF THE ORIGINAL CODE TALKERS. THERE WERE SEVERAL HUNDRED CODE TALKERS, BUT A GROUP OF 29 THAT INCLUDED JUNE THAT DEVELOPED THE CODE, BASED ON THEIR NATIVE LANGUAGE. THEIR ROLE IN THE WAR WAS NOT DECLASSIFIED UNTIL 1968.  ONLY 2 OF THE 29 ARE STILL LIVING.  

LET'S HEAR IT FOR THIS GROUP OF MARINES WHO HELPED BEAT THE JAPANESE.