World War II Veteran and Navajo Code Talker Fleming Begaye Sr. Dies At 97

Fleming Begaye Sr., one of the last remaining Navajo Code Talkers from World War II, has died at the age of 97.

Begaye died Friday in Chinle, Ariz., according to a statement from the Navajo Nation. The group's president, Jonathan Nez, called him a "brave and selfless" warrior.

Begaye was born in Red Valley, Ariz., in 1921, according to the Navajo Nation. Years later, at a boarding school called Fort Wingate, he learned that the U.S. military was looking for Navajo speakers, according to The New York Times. He enlisted, and became one of the more than 400 code talkers in the Marines.

During the war, the code talkers helped the U.S. communicate securely during battles using a code based on the Navajo language. The code was made up of more than 600 words, sometimes using Navajo words for animals to substitute for names of military vehicles. The code was used in every major Marine operation in the Pacific theater, and could never be broken by the Japanese.

Begaye served as a code talker from 1943 to 1945, according to the Navajo Nation, and fought in the Battle of Tarawa and the Batter of Tinian. He would later go on to spend a year in a naval hospital for injuries and wounds he received during his service, according to the Navajo Nation.