"I didn't plan on being in the war; I just wanted to be in the service --that was in my mind since I was very young." (Video Interview, 2:29)

Dan Akee

Dan Akee [2004] War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Marine Corps Unit: 25th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division Service Location: Iwo Jima; Saipan and Tinian (Northern Mariana Islands); Marshall Islands; Pacific Theater Rank: Sergeant Major

Born on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, Dan Akee was sent at age six to a boarding school in nearby Tuba City. In 1942, he heard the Armed Forces were recruiting Navajos, but he couldn't pass the physical. Two years later, he volunteered again, passed, and became a member of the Code Talker team attached to the 4th Marine Division. He saw action on four Pacific islands, and by the last, Iwo Jima, he was starting to show the psychological effects of prolonged exposure to combat. After returning home, he had persistent problems with nightmares and took to drinking. When a doctor told him he had a liver disease that would be fatal, Akee stopped drinking and also turned to religion, becoming a minister in the Assembly of God church.