Native American Arts

Music

In dedication to the Navajo Navajo Code Talkers of WWII, Shonie De La Rosa has created a very special, custom made guitar dedicated to the Navajo Code Talkers.   A limited run of only four Navajo Code Talker guitars will be built, one for each of the four directions in the traditional Navajo cardinal directions.  Shonie was inspired by the Navajo Code Talkers, local heroes on the Navajo Nation who used the indigenous Navajo language as an unbreakable code during the most intense days of conflict during World War II. 

Navajo Code Talker guitar serial# CT001will grace the floor of the Native American Pavilion at NAMM 2011 in Anaheim, CA. At 2:30 PM, Saturday, January 15 at the Native American Pavilion, WWII Navajo Code Talker Samuel Tom Holiday will make a very special appearance to sign the Navajo Code Talker guitar.  
        

After the NAMM show, the guitar will be taken back to the Navajo Nation to be signed by the rest of the surviving Navajo Code Talkers of WWII.  It will be donated to the Navajo Code Talkers Museum in Window Rock, AZ where it will be showcased to honor their service, dedication, and the sacrifices they have given for their country.

A group of 420 Navajo Warriors used the code on the battlefield. From 1942 to 1945, the code was never written down, as it echoed life-saving words onto radio communications from fox holes, trenches, deep in the jungles, and the slit trenches of Saipan, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, and Tarawara, Japan. Samuel Tom Holiday was one of these brave and courageous Navajo warriors. Only a handful WWII Navajo Code Talkers survive to this day.  

The United States Marine Corp and U.S. President Ronald Reagan declassified the information related to the Navajo Code Talkers in August 14, 1981. 

Samuel Holiday joined the Marine Corp at the age of 19 and was assigned to the Fourth Marine Division, 25thRegiment, H & S Company from 1943-1945. He served on the Island of Roi-Namur, Tinian, Iwo Jima, Marshall Islands and Saipan. For more information on Mr. Holiday and the Navajo Code Talkers please visit:  Samuel Tom Holiday - Navajo Code Talker. 

Shonie De La Rosa builds guitars at Navatone Custom Shop, located in the heart of Navajo country in Kayenta, Arizona, specializing in custom built Stratocaster and Telecaster style guitars. For more information on Shonie De La Rosa and Navatone please visit the Navatone Custom Shop website.