Zonnie interviewed by Santa Fe Public Radio KSFR

I was recently interviewed by Santa Fe public radio KSFR. Here is the first in their series of interviews that aired this morning.

MK Mendoza, the host, and I had a wonderful time talking about these great and humble men and their invaluable contribution to WWII. This first segment is about the beginnings of the Navajo Code Talker program and the Navajo code. What originally was going to be a 30 minute interview turned into a two hour discussion about Code Talkers, Indigenous veterans and unfortunate American popular narratives of Indigenous hyper-masculine superheroes.

Stay tuned for the other segments in the series! The second series will air tomorrow at 8:30 AM (MST) while the last segment will air next week.

https://www.ksfr.org/post/leading-expert-navajo-code-talkers-reveals-insiders-view-history

Honoring a Forgotten Navajo Soldier on Traditional Memorial Day

Clinton during his training as a medic.

Traditionally, Memorial Day was observed on May 30th. It was also originally called Decoration Day.

In 1968, however, our country passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act to establish all formal holidays to fall on a Monday giving federal employees a three-day weekend.

In appreciation of the original date and intention to honor soldiers who died while serving their country, I would like to remember George Clinton, a medic with the U.S. Army in World War II.

For nearly 70 years, George Clinton was a forgotten soldier. His story came to light during a research trip to the National Archives at St Louis when I was a fellow in 2013. I first discovered Clinton going through documents of the original Navajo Code Talkers. Turns out he was the missing man! There were suppose to be thirty men in the original group of Code Talkers, but when all was said and done, there were only twenty-nine. For years they were known as the First Twenty-nine. It was a mystery that everyone always wondered about.

For some reason, Clinton did not step on that bus in May of 1942 for Marine Corps boot camp to become a Code Talker. Instead, in September 1942, he joined the U.S. Army. His life took a different path.

Zonnie kneeling beside George Clinton Burial site in NM

Trained as a medical technician, Clinton initially served with the 330 Regiment, 83rd Infantry Division During the Normandy campaign, he was wounded in battle on 4 July 1944. Sadly, he also received word that his new born son, George Clinton, Jr. died. His wife, Sarah, died three months later. When he resumed duty, he was transferred to the 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. He was killed in action on 15 January 1945 during the Battle of the Bugle, at the Ardennes-Alsace Campaign. He died near Faymonville, Belgium.

He is interred at the National Cemetery at Santa Fe, New Mexico. May he rest in peace.