"They sent us wherever they needed us, wherever we were most dangerous." (Video interview, 46:17)

Samuel Tom Holiday

Samuel Holiday [2004] War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Marine Corps Unit: Headquarters & Service Company, 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division Service Location: Saipan; Iwo Jima; Tinian (Northern Mariana Islands); Marshall Island; Pacific Theater Rank: Private First Class

Private First Class Samuel Holiday was born in Oljato, Utah, within the Navajo Nation. He was raised by his mother in a traditional Navajo way of life, until being forced to attend a government-run boarding school at the age of 13, where he faced harsh discipline and abuse. After joining the Marine Corps in early 1943, he completed demanding training to become a Code Talker. In this critical role, he saw combat on Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima. Holiday often accompanied dangerous patrols to locate enemy positions, and called in artillery strikes using the Navajo Code that devastated Japanese positions. He was highly sensitive to the suffering that combat caused on both sides, however. The suffering that he witnessed during the war motivated him to become a traditional medicine man later in life so that he could help others in alleviating their pain.