B*N*S*N2

Navajo Soldier inspired to serve by 'code talker' grandfather

Nov 9, 2010

By Spc. Jerry Ellis


Photo Credit: Spc. Jerry Ellis.

Pfc. Chelsea Draper, Forward Support Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Advise and Assist Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, prepares to drive her military vehicle to its guard point protecting her base in Maysan, Iraq.

MAYSAN PROVINCE, Iraq (Nov. 9, 2010) -- For many years, the United States Army has been a melting pot of Soldiers from different cultures, races and religions, all joining for reasons as different as their backgrounds.

For Pfc. Chelsea Draper, Forward Support Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Advise and Assist Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, joining the military followed in the footsteps of her grandfather.

The 3/4 AAB is currently attached to the 1st Infantry Division as a part of United States Division-South.

A member of the Navajo tribe from Chinle, Ariz., Teddy Draper Sr. served in the U.S. Marine Corps more than 60 years ago, using the Navajo language, or Diné Ke'Ji, to transmit coded messages as a code talker.

Code talkers were the Native Americans who served in the Marines from World War I to Vietnam. Used to transmit coded messages over radio and telephone, the languages they spoke were unwritten and undecipherable by the enemy.

For more, go here. And then take a look at the Navajo Code Talkers Dictionary here.

Photo Credit: Courtesy Photo.

Army Pfc. Chelsea Draper with her grandfather, Retired USMC Sgt. Maj. Teddy Draper Sr., in Chinle, Ariz. Draper Sr.'s service as a code talker during World War II inspired Pfc. Draper to join the military.