Midday: Navajo Code Talker statue unveiled in West Valley City
Aug 15, 2025, 5:00 PM
Navajo Code Talkers and their significant contributions during U.S. wars abroad, especially World War II, were honored this week with a new statue at the Utah Veterans Memorial in West Valley City. (Sandy Mayor Monica Zoltanski, Facebook)
(Sandy Mayor Monica Zoltanski, Facebook)
SALT LAKE CITY — Navajo Code Talkers and their significant contributions during U.S. wars abroad, especially World War II, were honored this week with a new statue at the Utah Veterans Memorial in West Valley City.
Several hundreds of Navajo service members helped to secretly and securely transmit sensitive information during World War II.
As noted by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the U.S. Marines were “desperate to find a secure way to communicate vital information with precious little time,” and eventually the Navajo language was approved as a communication code.
Specifically, the Navajo language was used to spell out the locations of the Japanese military and U.S. soldiers. The language was also used to help place artillery and as a conduit for wartime communication.
On Thursday, August 14, Midday host Maria Shilaos spoke with West Valley City Councilmember William Whetstone about the new statue and its significance. A partial transcript of that interview, as well as the full podcast, are below.
Contributing: Andy Cupp
Related: Remembering Samuel Sandoval, Navajo Code Talker
This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity.
MARIA SHILAOS, MIDDAY HOST: A new monument was unveiled today in West Valley City to honor the Navajo Code Talkers, a group of several hundred Navajo service members who helped transmit sensitive material and information during World War II. The Navajo Code Talkers played pivotal roles in key battles around the Pacific; their language complex enough so that America’s enemies couldn’t decipher it.
Today [August 14] is actually national Code Talkers Day in Utah. And a new monument is dedicated to their efforts and sacrifice. I spoke with West Valley City Council member Will Whetstone about the new statue
WILLIAM WHETSTONE, WVC COUNCILMEMBER: Today we unveiled a couple of monuments, one being a monument recognizing the code talkers contribution to World War II. And we also unveiled a couple of monuments that recognize … a little known World War II battle called Operation Halyard … a rescue mission that occurred in World War II.
MARIA SHILAOS, MIDDAY HOST: Describe for us why this has been important to West Valley City, and the significance of this in your city.
WHETSTONE: It’s not just a park or a another structure in the city. This is a monument for all of Utah. We call it the Utah Veterans Memorial, where all Utahns can come.
SHILAOS: What do these two statues that you unveiled today look like?
WHETSTONE: The Code Talker statue shows two Navajo Code Talkers in battle, and one is radioing in, using the code talker language. The [other soldier] is fighting in battle. And then the Halyard operation shows the landing on D-Day.
