“Were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima.”

– Major Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division.

A Telluride Unearthed program exploring the WWII Navajo Code Talkers, from cultural repression to confidential heroism and eventually public recognition.
Join Samuel Holiday, author of the book Under the Eagle as he recounts his experiences in one of the most culturally and strategically significant military programs of World War II.

More about Samuel Holiday:

Samuel Tom Holiday was born in Monument Valley, Utah. When he was 12, he injured his knee and went to a clinic in Kayenta, Arizona. Afterwards he was sent to a boarding school where he was beaten for speaking Navajo. He volunteered for the Marines at 17 and trained to be a Code Talker at Camp Pendleton. He served 1943-1945 in the Pacific Theater.