"Clarence Wolfguts wants to live the rest of his life on the trail.

And the trail will lead to Johnsville, where the Eastern Woodlands Gathering of All Nations will be July 25 to 27.

God willing, Wolfguts, 84, the last of the World War II "code talkers," will lead the Grand Entry on each day of the Gathering.

Wolfguts, a Lakota, spoke the "whisper" of the Lakota dialect during the Pacific campaigns of World War II.

He helped develop a phonetic alphabet based upon Lakota that he and his fellow Sioux code talkers used to transmit messages between headquarters and the fighting front. It was a code the Japanese were never able to break.

You might remember a movie made a few years ago called "Windtalkers," based on Navajo code talkers and their work during the battle of Iwo Jima.

Wolfguts was there, and as he watched men die all around him, he whispered a promise in Lakota.

Translated it is simply: "Bring me home God, and I will praise your name always."

And here he is."

Get the Story:
Ron Simon: It will be an honor to meet last WWII code talker (The Mansfield News-Journal 7/16)