SEMINOLE EDMOND HARJO DIED-LAST SEMINOLE CODE TALKER
Born on November 24, 1917, in Maud, Oklahoma, Edmond and his brothers enlisted in the 195th Field Artillery Battalion and saw action at Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge. They also were on Iwo Jima.
Harjo was walking through an orchard in southern France in 1944 and heard a fellow soldier singing in the Muscogee dialect. A captain later heard the two soldiers talking and put them to work on opposite ends of a radio. Harjo ended his service as a private first class and received a Silver Service star, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and Good Conduct Medal. After serving with honor, he and his brothers did the honorable thing. “They kept their service a secret. Even to those that they loved.” Earning both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Oklahoma City University, he became a schoolteacher and taught many years for Maud Public Schools and Pickett-Center school in Ada. On November 20, 2013, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Harjo died in Ada, Oklahoma.
Source: "Seminole code talker Edmond Harjo dies at 96,” Tulsa World, 4/13/2014. Retrieved 1/22/2020, https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/seminole-code-talker-edmond-harjo-dies-at/article_6d65c407-10e8-56ae-ab96-aaa1b3b3a29f.html Photo: U.S. Army, 1944. Photograph taken prior to the Battle of the Bulge. Public Domain.
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