Catherine Calderon

The Republic | azcentral.com

Navajo Code Talker Sidney Bedoni died Sunday. He was 91. Flags on the Navajo Reservation were ordered to fly at half-staff to honor the highly decorated U.S. Marine.

Bedoni served in the Marines from 1942 to 1946 after enlisting at 16 years old when recruiters came to Tuba City, where he was attending boarding school, according to relatives.

Up until that point, he had been encouraged by instructors not to speak the Navajo language his parents had taught him. It would be his knowledge of the language that would help him transmit coded messages and thwart enemy eavesdroppers as a Code Talker during World War II, family members said.

Bedoni hitchhiked 80miles from Tuba City to Navajo Mountain, Utah, to ask his father for permission to join the Marines, according to his surviving family members. He departed for the South Pacific months later.

Bedoni would receive paratrooper training, though his status as a Code Talker would prevent him from joining one of the parachute regiments.

He later served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.

Bedoni's grandson, Eric Mantanona of Mesa, remembers his grandfather's patriotism.

"He would wear his red Marine Code Talker hat everywhere he went out," Mantanona said. "He was extremely proud of his service to his country and loved sharing stories with people."

Mantanona said Bedoni's Mormon faith was also of great importance to him, and he recalled a story his grandfather told him about discussing religion in a fox hole with a fellow soldier who was also an LDS member.

Bedoni married his wife, Lena, in 1952, and the two eventually settled with their four children in the Flagstaff area.

Bedoni worked at the Navajo Army Depot in Bellemont as an explosives operator for 35 years before retiring, Mantanona said.

"The Flagstaff community regarded him highly, and really everyone did," Mantanona said. "He served as grand marshal for numerous parades and was highly decorated by the time he passed."

Bedoni's decorations include a Korean Service Medal and Army of Occupation Medal.

In 1988, he was promoted to sergeant major for his exceptional service and Code Talker contributions.

He died Sunday of complications from pneumonia and influenza, according to family members.

The last of the original 29 Code Talkers, 93-year-old Chester Nez, died last week of kidney failure.

Other groups of Navajos would eventually become Code Talkers and, by the end of World War II, there were about 420 Code Talkers. The code had expanded to more than 500 words.

Bedoni's funeral will be at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Winslow at 11a.m. Monday, said Royce Greer, funeral director at Greer's Mortuary. A viewing will begin at 9 a.m.

His burial service will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona in Phoenix.

Navajo Code Talker Sidney Bedoni passed away Sunday, marking another death in the remarkable fraternity of more than 400.