Navajo Code Talkers | Fotoeins Fotografie

Veteran's Memorial, Courthouse Square, McKinley County Courthouse, Navajo Code Talkers, World War 2, US Marine Corps, Pacific theater, Navajo Nation, Gallup, New Mexico, USA, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday in Gallup: Navajo Code Talkers Memorial

(October 2018.)

Only 35 kilometres (22 miles) from the New Mexico-Arizona border, Gallup was once an important railway depot town big on coal transports, but now is a stop for weary drivers on today’s I-40 interstate highway. Gallup is also considered an unofficial capital of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico and gateway into Indian country.

In various visible ways, the town honours the Navajo Code Talkers who were from the Gallup area and served in the Pacific Theater of the Second World War. In the plaza in front of the county courthouse is a veterans’ memorial and walkway with column markers to the Spanish-American War, World War 2, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf. One column highlights and honours members of the Navajo Nation who served as Code Talkers in the Pacific Theatre of World War 2.

If it were not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima.

– Major Howard Conner, 5 Marine Division Signal Officer.

I made all pictures on 12 Oct 2018 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-izT.

Navajo Code Talkers Memorial.

Navajo Code Talkers, Gallup-McKinley County Chamber of Commerce, Navajo Code Talkers exhibit, Theresa Potter, Navajo Nation, Gallup, New Mexico, USA, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday in Gallup: Navajo Code Talkers exhibit

(October 2018.)

We stopped in Gallup, New Mexico, for a few hours on our 1-day drive from Santa Fe west to Flagstaff. Only 35 kilometres (22 miles) from the New Mexico-Arizona border, Gallup is considered an unofficial capital of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico and gateway into Indian country. Formerly a busy railway depot town big on coal transports, Gallup is now a stop for weary drivers on today’s I-40 interstate highway.

Inside the Gallup-McKinley County Chamber of Commerce is a small exhibition about the Navajo Code Talkers. A key painting by local artist Theresa Potter was unveiled on National Navajo Code Talkers Day in 1982. The accompanying caption reads:

Theresa Potter (1933-1986) was awarded the Navajo Code Talker’s first Medal of Merit in 1984 in recognition of her many years of active support and contributions to the association. In spite of her arthritically-crippled hands, she was a well-known artist who specialized in Southwestern scenes and themes. In 1976, she painted a picture portraying four Code Talkers in a jungle setting, but with visions of their homeland beyond the sacred rainbow. The painting was donated to the Navajo Code Talkers, along with another painting called “Reminiscences.”

I made the picture above on 12 Oct 2018 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and the settings: 1/60-sec, f/4, ISO1000, and 18.5mm focal length (28mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-izK.

Navajo Code Talkers, World War 2, US Marine Corps, Pacific theater, Navajo Nation, Gallup, New Mexico, USA, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday in Gallup: Navajo Code Talkers mural

(October 2018.)

We stopped in Gallup, New Mexico, for a few hours on our 1-day drive from Santa Fe west to Flagstaff. Only 35 kilometres (22 miles) from the New Mexico-Arizona border, Gallup is considered an unofficial capital of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico and gateway into Indian country. Formerly a busy railway depot town big on coal transports, Gallup is now a stop for weary drivers on today’s I-40 interstate highway.

The town honours the Navajo Code Talkers who served in the Second World War. The 2001 wall mural along South 2nd Street by Be Sargent commemorates the Navajo Code Talkers who were recruited by the U.S. Marine Corps for service in the Pacific Theater during World War 2. Their own Navajo code was never broken during the war. The mural shows the men as they were young and later as aged, as well as various animals familiar to the area.

I made the picture above on 12 Oct 2018 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime and the settings: 1/500-sec, f/11, ISO1000, and 18.5mm focal length (28mm full-frame equivalent). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-ilb.