Native American WWII Hero Who Served As “Code Talker” Dies At 92

A Native American WWII hero who served as a code talker and earned the Purple Heart has died at the age of 92. Gilbert Horn Sr. was a highly decorated World War II combat veteran and Assiniboine tribal leader.

He spent decades serving the Fort Belknap Assiniboine Tribe in Montana as a judge and council member. He died of natural causes at the age of 92 and was laid to rest this past Wednesday (March 30, 2016) at the Horn family cemetery overlooking the Milk River in Great Falls Montana.

Horn was born on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in 1923. He joined the U.S. National Guard at age 15 as a way to escape the poverty of life on the reservation and enlisted in the U.S. Army at 17 after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.

He is best known as a Native American code talker who also fought with a WWII “deep penetration unit” known as Merrill’s Marauders. Code talkers used native language to send encoded messages during the war and because the language was unknown to the Nazis and Japanese, it could not be deciphered by non-native speakers. Ironically, Horn was forbidden to speak the language when he was at school. Reflecting back on this, Horn would say that “The language which they forbade me to speak is the language that saved this country” the Great Falls Tribune reported.

The work of the code talkers did during WWII remained classified until 1968.

Gilbert Horn Sr. enlisted in the Army at 17 after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and was initially trained as a…

Posted by The Purple Heart Foundation on Thursday, March 31, 2016

While serving with Merrill’s Marauders, Horn was involved in missions to cut Japanese communications and supply lines in the Burmese jungle. They trekked over 800 miles over the Himalaya Mountains into enemy territory and engaged in some of the most violent skirmishes in the Pacific. Horn was wounded four times during the battles and for his service he was awarded the Purple Heart and bronze star.

“It was a fighting unit, ready for action any time,” Horn told the Tribune during an interview for a story published in January 2014. “I wanted to go see the war. I didn’t want to be in Montana all my life. I wanted to see what’s across that big waters called the oceans.”

Despite his military service and the camaraderie of brothers in arms, when Horn returned to Montana, the racism and lack of opportunities he experienced as a child still remained. It was something that he worked hard to change.

Upon his return he said he was “treated like dirt”. Veterans were supposed to be given preferential treatment when applying for certain jobs and qualify for low-interest federal housing loans, but Horn said that almost never happened for him.

He went to work on his family’s ranch and through his leadership roles within the Assiniboine Tribe he strongly advocated for children’s education. He also took great pride and joy in his family.

After many long years of service to his Tribe and community, Horn was recognized by Montana State University-Northern, which awarded him an honorary doctoral degree in humanitarian services in 2014. In that same month, he was named chief of the Fort Belknap Assiniboine Tribe, the first chief the tribe had recognized since the 1890s.

He is survived by 11 children, 37 grandchildren, 71 great-grandchildren and 18 great-great-grandchildren.

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