WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) — One of the last remaining Navajo Code Talkers who transmitted messages during World War II using the tribe’s native language has died. John Kinsel Sr. was 107. Navajo Nation officials in Window Rock, Arizona, announced Kinsel’s death on Saturday. Tribal President Buu Nygren has ordered all flags on the reservation to be flown at half-staff to honor Kinsel. Hundreds of Navajos were recruited by the Marines to serve as Code Talkers during the war, transmitting messages using a code based on their then-unwritten native language. Code Talkers participated in all assaults the Marines led in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945, including at Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Peleliu and Iwo Jima.
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