Ernest Yazhe

Ernest Yahze was a Navajo Code Talker who was part of an elite group of Marines who transmitted battlefield messages during World War II. The Navajo-based radio code was unbreakable and considered to be a principal reason why America and its allies won the war.

Yahoo was born in northwestern New Mexico and joined the Marines at the age of 19. He trained in New Caledonia, a Pacific island east of Australia, and served on the front lines in Guam and Okinawa. In 2001, he was part of a group of Code Talkers who were presented the Congressional Silver Medal on the Navajo Nation.

After the war, he worked for the Intermountain Indian School in Brigham City, Utah. He retired from Kennecott Mining Corporation, where he had worked for thirty-eight years. After his retirement, he moved from Sandy, Utah, back to New Mexico where he lived in Chaco Canyon.

He and his wife, Katie, were the parents of seven children. He was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He died on January 12, 2016.