"But the bunch I was with, we worked together - we were always working together, helping each other." (Video interview, 55:21)

Bill H. Toledo

Bill Toledo in uniform, taken from his 2003 interview War: World War, 1939-1945 Branch: Marine Corps Unit: 3rd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division Service Location: Bougainville Island (Solomon Islands); Guam (Mariana Islands); Iwo Jima; Pacific Theater Rank: Private First Class

Bill H. Toledo hailed from Torreon, New Mexico, and enlisted in the Marine Corps in October 1942 together with his uncle Frank Toledo and cousin Preston Toledo, all three of whom would become Code Talkers. After training as a Code Talker, Bill Toledo was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, with whom he first saw combat on November 1, 1943 in the invasion of Bougainville. Toledo and his comrades endured bitter fighting there, but he and the other Code Talkers with 9th Marines were able to demonstrate the value of the Navajo Code on Bougainville, as their commanders came to rely on them to deliver encrypted messages quickly after the older shackle code method proved to be slow and unreliable. Toledo survived another difficult landing on Guam, before also taking part in the invasion of Iwo Jima in February 1945, from where he remembers horrific combat, but also getting to see his uncle Frank Toledo. Throughout his time in the Marines, Toledo remembers that he got along well with the Marines he worked with closely, but did encounter bigotry from Marines outside his section. Toledo struggled with post-traumatic stress symptoms for many years, until his family arranged to host an Enemy Way healing ceremony for him in 1970, a ceremony that lasted for three days. Afterwards, Toledo reported that he no longer had nightmares or experienced post-traumatic stress symptoms.