Veteran of the Day graphic for William Tully Brown.

Veteran of the Day graphic created by Dominique Ramirez for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Marine Corps Veteran William Tully Brown. William served during World War II from 1944 to 1946.

William was born Oct. 1922 in Black Mountain, Arizona. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1944 and served in Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima. He was one of several hundred Navajo Code Talkers to use his native language to outsmart the Japanese during World War II.

The Navajo language had no written form which made it hard to decipher. From 1942 to 1945 the Navajo code was never broken by the enemy. In 1946, William was honorably discharged and went on to serve the Tselani/Cottonwood community in Arizona. To recognize the service of these men, President Ronald Reagan, in 1982 declared August 14 National Navajo Code Talker Day. Today, there are only three living code-talkers.

William is a recipient of the Congressional Silver Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal, World War II Victory Medal and Honorable Service Lapel Button.

William passed away on Monday in Winslow, Arizona at the age of 96.

We honor your service, William.

Nominate a Veteran for #VeteranOfTheDay

Do you want to light up the face of a special Veteran? Have you been wondering how to tell your Veteran they are special to you? VA’s #VeteranOfTheDay social media feature is an opportunity to highlight your Veteran and his/her service.

It’s easy to nominate a Veteran. All it takes is an email to newmedia@va.gov with as much information as you can put together, along with some good photos. Visit our blog post about nominating to learn how to create the best submission.

Contributors:

Graphic designer: Dominique Ramirez

Editor: Tanner Iskra

Author: Melissa L. Ter Burgh

Topics in this story

darmarine corpsNative AmericanNative American VeteranNative American VeteransNavajo Code Talkerworld war ii

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4 Comments

  1. Zlatan ibile biography June 29, 2019 at 10:46

    Am fed up

  2. Naira Marley June 6, 2019 at 03:11

    We honor your service sir

  3. Robert Bostic June 5, 2019 at 12:20

    We honor the service of Marine Corps Veteran William Tully Brown.

  4. John Hans Winkler June 5, 2019 at 01:13

    It’s a travesty that major winters wasn’t presented with the medal of Honor. Why doesn’t someone put him in for it posthumously. This an outrage and very sad. The code talkers especially the original 29 should have also received the medal of Honor. It says right there in your video we wouldn’t have taken up Jio Jima without them are you kidding me. That’s a shame. They saved millions on both sides, including civilians. .

    Respectfully,
    John Hans Winkler
    Staff Sergeant retired u.s. army
    1976-1989
    On

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