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Private First Class Preston Toledo, left, and Private First Class Frank Toledo, cousins and Navajos, attached to a Marine Artillery Regiment in the South Pacific relay orders over a field radio in Navajo in this July 7, 1943 photo. Photo courtesy of United States Marine Corps (photo #57875) and Office of Sen. Jeff Bingaman
Navajo Code Talkers coming to Los Alamos next week
Lab sponsors event in Fuller Lodge
Retired colonel Bill Fields said it very bluntly: If not for the Navajo Code Talkers who volunteered for duty or were recruited into World War II, the United States wouldn't have won that war. And countless thousands of American soldiers and soldiers in other countries would have lost their lives too.
Fields made his comment during an American Indian Heritage Month panel discussion at the Laboratory several years ago.
In 1942, 29 Navajos from the Navajo nation in Arizona and New Mexico were recruited by the United States Marines to assist the U.S. effort in the Pacific Theater. It was the complex Navajo language that Japanese soldiers couldn't decipher that made it possible for U.S. soldiers to communicate without the fear of having their battlefield strategies exposed.
Next Tuesday (Aug. 7) in Fuller Lodge downtown, 14 Navajo Code Talkers, as they have come to be known, will be honored at Navajo Code Talkers Day. The Lab's Community Relations (CRO) Office is sponsoring the event, which begins at 10 a.m. and is open to the public.
"The Laboratory is pleased to be one of the sponsors of this event, which recognizes the contributions these individuals made to our country," said Albert Jiron of CRO. "Nearly 60 years after the Navajo Code Talkers were pressed into action, their story of service to this country is one worth hearing again."
Bill Press, the Lab's deputy director of science, technology and programs, is scheduled to make welcoming remarks about 10:40 a.m. after the presentation of colors, a Navajo invocation and the U.S. Marine Corps Hymn, which will be sung in Navajo by Elsie Benally and Christine Benally, the wife and daughter of deceased Navajo Code Talker Harry Benally.
In addition, Jean Whitehorse, a Navajo from Smith Lake, N.M. and the daughter of an original code talker will sing the National Anthem in Navajo.
Los Alamos County Council Chairwoman Sharon Stover also will make welcoming remarks and County Councilor Lawry Mann will read a proclamation declaring Tuesday as Navajo Code Talkers Day in Los Alamos.
Sam Billison, president of the Navajo Code Talkers Association, will then speak beginning about 11:10 a.m.
Christine Benally is the master of ceremonies.
Last year Congress passed and President Clinton approved creation of a gold medal to honor the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers and silver medals to those men who later qualified as a code talker.
According to information from the Navajo Code Talkers Association, the first code talkers were recruited to devise the code terms that would later convey critical information on the beaches and in the jungles of the Pacific Theater. "They had to find words in their tongue [that] could describe complex military operations. The code words could not be overly long and had to lend themselves to ready memorization. In combat there would be no time to consult code books. Transmission and comprehension had to be instantaneous."
The code talkers developed Navajo words that had a logical association with military terms. For example, "Besh-lo," which is Navajo for iron fish, became the code word for submarine. And "Ne-as-jah," which is the Navajo word for owl, was the code word for observation plane.
By the end of the war 411 terms had been devised to carry vital information past Japanese intelligence. The code was especially effective in reporting the location of enemy artillery and directing fire from American positions.
For more information, contact Debbi Wersonick of OEO at 7-7870.
Additional information about the Navajo Code Talkers can be found at http://www.lapahie.com/NavajoCodeTalker.cfm online.
--Steve Sandoval
Lab Deputy Director Press to meet with students on Aug. 7
Bill Press, deputy director for science, technology and programs, will meet with students at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 7 in the Physics Auditorium at Technical Area 3.
Press will discuss the importance of students at the Laboratory and allow the audience a chance to ask questions or express concerns.
The meeting also will be shown on LABNET Channel 9.
Women's Diversity Working Group
hosts seminars on financial health, wellness
The Laboratory's Women's Diversity Working Group is sponsoring a series of financial health and wellness seminars beginning Aug. 7.
All the seminars are free and scheduled for 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Physics Building Auditorium at Technical Area 3.
In the first seminar Aug. 7, Megan Gutierrez of Salomon Smith Barney's Investment Center will talk about financial planning.
On Aug. 9, starting a business and working with the Laboratory is the focus of a talk by Joy Lindman of the University of New Mexico, Los Alamos' Small Business Development Center.
On Aug. 13, Caryn Gates of Compensation and Benefits (HR-1) will talk about work and retirement benefits at the Lab.
Two days later, on Aug. 15, attorney Jane Starke will talk about the effects of divorce or a spouse's death on the survivor's retirement benefits.
On Aug. 20, Louise Hanna of H & R Block will talk about the 2001 tax law and benefits.
The last seminar is Aug. 22 when Mike Ellington of the federal Social Security Administration talks about "Social Security and You: All you ever wanted to know."
More information about the seminars is available at http://www.lanl.gov/WDWG online.
Lab workers requiring special accommodations can call Sheila Brandt of Occupational Medicine (ESH-2) at 5-2667.
--Steve Sandoval
Small Business Office hosts workshop
Aug. 8 on federal GSA certifications, guidelines
The Laboratory's Small Business Office (BUS-SBO) is co-sponsoring a conference Aug. 8 for businesses interested in becoming certified under federal General Services Administration purchasing guidelines.
The conference is from 9 a.m. to noon in the Cities of Gold Hotel in Pojoaque. The cost is $10 and seating is limited to 60, said Carla Lujan of the SBO.
The University of New Mexico, Los Alamos' Small Business Development Center is co-sponsor of the event.
Lujan said certification under federal GSA regulations makes businesses eligible to provide goods and services to the Laboratory through the GSA. Buyers at the Lab, for example, know that they can purchase goods or services noncompetitively at prices negotiated by the GSA from businesses that are GSA-certified, she explained.
"Within the next few years Los Alamos National Laboratory will procure a significant amount of its supplies and service requirements through the use of GSA contracts," said Bennie Gonzales, the Lab's Small Business Office program manager.
"It is important that local Northern New Mexico firms are educated on how they can participate in the GSA sponsored contract programs."
To sign up for the conference, contact Lujan at 7-4410 or go to SBO's Buy Northern Web site at http://buynorthern.lanl.gov/Training/GSA_Flyer.htm online.
--Steve Sandoval
August Personal Best is now online
The August edition of Personal Best, the health and wellness newsletter is now available online. This month's cover story highlights 10 ways to protect your skin while enjoying the summer sun.
In the "Body Matters" section of this month's issue readers can learn five ways to love the liver and how to overcome a weight loss plateau.
Also in this issue: a checklist on fat consumption, dos and don'ts for pregnant exercisers, preparation ideas for summer's fresh vegetables, an immunization quiz, a "special report" on skin problems, tips on proper foot care and a discussion on male menopause. This month's recipe is strawberry kebabs.
Personal Best is provided for Lab personnel by the Positive Health Directions program, part of Occupational Medicine (ESH-2) and Compensation and Benefits (HR-1). The hardcopy Body Bulletin, Safety Check and the online Personal Best are published by Scott Publishing in Edmonds, Wash. They replace the Wellstreet Journal formerly published by ESH-2, and the Positive Health Directions hardcopy newsletter.
If you have an opinion about the health newsletters provided to Laboratory workers, complete the survey in the August Body Bulletin or online. Lab workers who complete the survey will be entered into a drawing for a $150 gift certificate to Brookstone Catalogue. The drawing will be held Aug. 6.
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Poster Session Set Up David Hendricks, 18, sets up a Linux-BIOS computer at a poster session hosted by the Computer and Computational Sciences (CCS) Division Tuesday at Technical Area 3. About 10 computer science students presented computer related projects they worked on during the summer. Hendricks is a Los Alamos High School graduate and plans to take courses at the University of New Mexico, Los Alamos. Inset photo, Joshua C. Jenks of Purdue University answers questions on his computer security projects. Several Lab organizations are hosting student poster sessions, including the Bioscience (B) and Dynamic Experimentation (DX) divisions today. Photos by Michael Carlson, Public Affairs |
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Commuter's Corner | Parking areas around TA-3 | Parking shuttle routes (pdf) or jpeg |
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