(CNN) William Tully Brown, one of the last remaining members of the Navajo Code Talker program during World War II, died on Monday at age 96, according to the Navajo Nation.

Brown was one of about 400 Navajos who used their language to develop a code to transmit top-secret and confidential messages throughout World War II, says Peter MacDonald, president of the Navajo Code Talkers Association.

"From 1942 until 1945, Navajo code was used by the US Marines and Navy, and they tell us that we saved hundreds of thousands of lives and helped win the war in the Pacific to preserve our freedom and liberty," MacDonald said.

Brown was born in Black Mountain, Arizona, on October 30, 1922. He enlisted with the Marine Corps in 1944 and served until he was honorably discharged in 1946.

He was a member of the Navajo Code Talkers Association and worked on a project to launch a museum about the code talkers' work.

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