It took more than two decades to come to fruition, but the dream of a long-time West Valley resident, and his hopes to recognize the contributions of his Navajo community, came true on Aug. 14. In an emotional ceremony at the Utah Veterans Memorial in the city,  a statue dedicated to the Navajo Code Talkers was unveiled at the memorial, which sits just south of the Utah Cultural Celebration Center.

Harry James Sr. passed away in February 2024, but not before he lobbied for years with the city to have a statue included at the Memorial. He started the West Valley Annual Powwow and was given a Key to the City. He served in the U.S. Army for three years, and he loved the role that Navajos played in the nation’s war efforts, particularly during World War II.

Code Talkers were crucial to U.S. military operations in the Pacific Theater, and the concept of using Native American languages for military communication actually went back to World War I. In 1942, Philip Johnson, a civil engineer who grew on on a Navajo reservation, proposed the idea of using the Navajo language to create a code, and the U.S. Marine Corps approved and initially recruited 29 Navajo men who became the original Code Talkers. Those soldiers were called instrumental in several key battles, including the Battle of Iwo Jima, where they transmitted over 800 messages without error.

Ronda (Honey) Duval sang the National Anthem in Navajo during the dedication ceremony. (Tom Haraldsen/City Journals)

But James knew those men remained largely unrecognized for years. In the 1980s, they began to receive various honors, including the Congressional Gold Medal in 2000. The Utah Veterans Memorial in West Valley City opened on November 11, 2021 following six months of construction and about $1.3 million in business and individual donations to make it possible. Its 75-foot-long memorial wall contains the names of some 4,800 Utahns who made the ultimate sacrifice in conflicts from World War I to the war on terrorism that started in the 1990s and included military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq. A tribute to the Code Talkers was not part of that first phase.

James worked with city leaders as plans for phase 2 were underway, with an adjacent park planned for about three quarters of an acre. As funds were raised to create the Navajo Code Talker statue, officials contacted Stan Watts, owner of Atlas Bronze Casting, and Andrey Sledkov, a sculptor who did the majority of the sculpting and who works for Stan.

“I went to the Navajo trading post and I asked if they knew someone who did eagle dancing and he said Harry James,” Watts recalled. “I called Harry and he said ‘you should do a Code Talker–Allen Dale June, one of the individuals that lived in West Valley City,’ I said okay, I will do a bust of June who was one of the 29 original Navajo Code Talkers. He also resided in West Valley City for a number of years.”

Watts said he felt that the experiences of June, along with Harry James, championed the idea, and James passed away just as Watts and Skedkov were getting started.

Sledkov, who came to the U.S. from Russia and is still in the process of learning English, said that “I think today talking about the Code Talkers, Normandy for me is the greatest operation– its key operation in the second World War. It changed the war. They helped my country (Russia) significantly in aided the Soviet Union by opening a second front against Nazi Germany, thus diverting German troops and resources from the Eastern Front. This diversion of forces allowed the Red Army to advance more effectively against the weakened German forces on the Eastern Front. I hope the Code Talker sculpture can keep Harry’s vision alive and to be a reminder to all people.”

Prestine James, Harry’s widow, said she hopes that  “Having a statue of the Code Talkers will be a reminder of their sacrifice, to be a reminder of their contributions, to be a reminder that our language is sacred and the power it represents. This has been fulfilled today.”

The ceremony included a rendition of the Star Spangler Banner sung in the Navajo language by Ronda (Honey) Duval, a flag ceremony by members of the West Valley Police Department, U.S. Marine Corps and Navajo Nation, a ribbon cutting ceremony including the Salt Lake Southern Drum with John Begay as lead singer, and blessing of the statue by Stephen Todachiny, a Marine veteran. 

Members of the West Valley City Council placed a wreath at the memorial, located near the Utah Cultural Celebration Center. Photos by Tom Haraldsen