The name Peter MacDonald probably doesn’t mean much to you. And that’s a shame.
McDonald, 90, was one of the three Navajo World War II veterans who came to the White House this week to be honored by President Trump.
McDonald gave a short but moving speech, which was immediately overshadowed by Trump’s decision — apropos of nothing — to mock Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s claims of Indian heritage by calling her “Pocahontas,” even though Warren had nothing to do with the event.
The criticism Trump received was well deserved, but we in the news business own a share of blame for letting Trump dominate the news again. MacDonald had an important story to tell about what it means to be an American, and we should have done a better job of telling it.
MacDonald is one of 13 surviving Navajo “Code Talkers,” an elite Marine Corps unit that used their unwritten native language as an uncrackable code on Pacific theater battlefields.
He enlisted in 1944 when he was only 15, and memorized the specialized vocabulary of 400 new words that were specially created for the unit, passed on orally and never committed to paper.
He served with the 6th Marine Division in Guam and after the Japanese surrender in Sep. 2, 1945, they fought holdouts in Northern China. “They didn’t want to surrender, but it took 1st Marine Division, 6th Marine Division to get them to surrender eventually,” MacDonald said. “We had a separate treaty ceremony in Tsingtao, China, October 25, 1945.”
McDonald said that his group, all in their 90s, have one more mission: To create a Navajo Code Talkers museum, where their story will be told to future generations.
“Why?” he asked. “Because what we did truly represents who we are as Americans. America, we know, is composed of diverse community. We have different languages, different skills, different talents, and different religion. But when our way of life is threatened, like the freedom and liberty that we all cherish, we come together as one. And when we come together as one, we are invincible.”
That’s a powerful message at a time when we too often hear that diversity is a problem or that it’s something that we have to overcome.
But the lesson of the Code Talkers is that when facing the mono-cultures of Germany and Japan in a war, our diversity was a strength. An obscure language spoken by an oppressed minority turned out to be a competitive advantage, giving us a concrete historical example of something that happens on a smaller scale in America every day.
Shame on Trump for spoiling the ceremony, but shame on us in the media for paying so much attention to the president and so little to his guest, a veteran who at the age of 90 has again served his country by delivering one more important message.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.