Memorial Day, sliding down a tangent
May. 25th, 2020 09:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lauradi7dwWe had to study WWII repeatedly growing up (we had US History in more or less detail in 5th, 8th, and 11th grade), but I definitely didn't hear of Navajo Code Talkers until the 1990s, possibly when one showed up on an episode of X-files. But it clearly wasn't classified information, which I had sort of thought. TCM scheduled 31 war movies for the long weekend. I randomly flipped past one of them this morning ("Battle Cry," 1955) and was lucky enough to see a scene of two Code Talkers in action, and the frustration of the Japanese radio operator who intercepted the transmission but couldn't get any information from it. Audiences in 1955 were presumed to know what was going on, I guess. I was curious to see if they were played by actors who actually spoke Navajo (the code talking language was more complicated than simple speaking). Actor Felix Noriego was called Crazy Horse in the credits, which is a little weird (the historical figure CH was a Lakota leader of Oglala fighters), but it's my impression that some people had silly Army nicknames anyway. I remember from a documentary about the Battle of the Bulge that one of the people being interviewed had been called Pork Chop. Noriego was born and died in Arizona, so it's entirely plausible that he was Navajo.
FN is long gone, so he didn't get to experience the current Covid-19 horrors in the Navajo nation. At a time that lots of places were "opening up" (giving up?) for Memorial Day weekend, the Navajo nation had an extreme lockdown for the weekend, with even essential places being closed, from Friday evening until dawn today.
https://www.ndoh.navajo-nsn.gov/COVID-19
As we have seen many horrifying photos of heedless folks out creating mob scenes (possibly chosen for shock value/click bait), I've been pleased to see, on the other hand, twitter threads from people who have settled in for the long haul, re-arranging furniture and buying ergonomic chairs for a home office space, buying yard games to get ready for a summer of staycations, etc.
FN is long gone, so he didn't get to experience the current Covid-19 horrors in the Navajo nation. At a time that lots of places were "opening up" (giving up?) for Memorial Day weekend, the Navajo nation had an extreme lockdown for the weekend, with even essential places being closed, from Friday evening until dawn today.
https://www.ndoh.navajo-nsn.gov/COVID-19
As we have seen many horrifying photos of heedless folks out creating mob scenes (possibly chosen for shock value/click bait), I've been pleased to see, on the other hand, twitter threads from people who have settled in for the long haul, re-arranging furniture and buying ergonomic chairs for a home office space, buying yard games to get ready for a summer of staycations, etc.
