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Officers of the Tennessee Native Veterans Society recently were honored to
be able to present a Certificate of Appreciation to Samuel Holiday. Mr.
Holiday served with the Marine 4th Division in the Pacific Theater as a Code
Talker. He and his family, including a great-grandson, were passing through
TN on their way to a Powwow in Ky when John Hedgecoth and Tim Ford,
President and Vice-President of TNVS, caught up with them at their motel in
Nashville.
When asked about the accuracy of the movie "Wind Talkers" Mr. Holiday said,
"Saipan may have had waterfalls and a lot of green trees but not the part I
was on. If there had been a waterfall I could have taken a shower." Mr.
Holiday was captured twice while in the Pacific,,,by his own men thinking he
was a Japanese soldier dressed in a Marine uniform. Both times he was
identified by buddies from his own Division.
After returning home he was told never to talk about his role in the
Service. It wasn't until 1968 that the amazing job done by the Code Talkers
was declassified and he and the others were finally able to tell their
families about their job with the Marines. During the first 36 hours on
Saipan over 800 messages were sent and received using the Code Talkers
Dictionary with no errors. For their courage under fire Samuel Holiday and
other Code Talkers were awarded a special Congressional Medal.

links; http://www.lapahie.com/Samuel_Tom_Holiday_NCT.cfm
http://navajocentral.org/code_talker.htm