One of the last remaining Navajo Code Talkers, Samuel Sandoval, died at the age of 98 on Friday, July 29, 2022, at a hospital in Shiprock, New Mexico. During World War II, he transmitted messages using a code based on their native language.
His wife had notified The Associated Press on Saturday about his death.
Samuel Sandoval Family
Sandoval was born in 1992 in Nageezi, New Mexico, to his father, Julian Sandoval, and his mother. He also had a younger brother Merril Sandoval who was also a Navajo Code Talker; he died in 2008 at the age of 82.
He had studied at a Methodist school in western New Mexico for 12 years, and he was enlisted in the Marine Corps after graduating high school.
Sandoval completed his basic training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, California, where the original 29 Code Talkers had arrived in September 1942. He spent 20 weeks memorizing the Navajo code at Camp Pendleton, California.
He was one of the 418 Code Talkers during World War II; at that time, he used an 813-word Navajo code to send and receive military information in the South Pacific Theatre.
He has served in five combat tours and was honorably discharged in 1946. The Code Talkers were not allowed to discuss their roles during the war and were allowed when their mission was declassified in 1968.
Before he left for the Marines, his family owned a lot of livestock, from sheep to cattle and horses, but most of the livestock was gone when he returned.
Later he found out from his grandmother that it was due to the fallout from the Navajo livestock reduction program in the 1930s when the US government wanted to limit the amount of livestock Navajo people owned due to the grazing in the Navajo Nation.
He could not talk about his role in World War II to his parents before they passed away. Samuel and his brother Merril didn’t work together or talk about Code Talkers, but in 1968 they could talk about their military service.
They both started sharing their stories with their children while growing up.
Sandoval met his wife Malula met while he was running a substance abuse counseling clinic, and she was his secretary in that clinic. They have been married for over 33 years. He raised his 11 children from his previous marriage in a blended family.
Samuel Sandoval’s Net Worth At Death
Any relevant source has not disclosed Sandoval’s estimated net worth. He has mainly worked for the military as a Navajo Code Talker during his lifetime.
Later Sandoval opened a clinic for substance abuse to help those in his community who were struggling with the addiction. Samuel has also published a book and documentary named Nazbah Ei Bijei: Heart of a Warrior, and it unfolds the story of his life during World War II.