213740 Cpl. Wilfred Billey United States Marines 297th Platoon 2nd Division from:Farmington, New Mexico Wilfred Billey was one of hundreds of Navajo Code Talkers who stumped the Japanese during World War II by relaying messages in their native language.
But Barbara Billey says her father never considered himself a hero. "Whenever he talked about the military during that time, he always told people that heroes were the ones he left behind, that he was not a hero," she said. "That everybody pitched in,including the people in the states, the people in the military."
After the war, Mr. Billey worked with New Mexico's congressional delegation to come up with the words appearing along the bottom of the medals:
"Dine Bizaad Yee Atah Naayee' Yik'eh Deesdlii" or "The Navajo language was used to defeat the enemy," his family said.
The Marine Corps were specifically looking to identify young men who were proficient in both the English and Navajo languages so they could transmit in combat activity in code.
Billey joined the Marines in 1943 and became a communications radioman, as the Code Talkers were known then, in the all-Navajo 297th Platoon in the 2nd Division.
He became a corporal in the Marine Corp and fought in the Pacific Theater in battles at Okinawa, Tinian, Tarawa and Saipan.
He received an honorable discharge in 1946.
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