New G.I. Joe honors World War II Navajo code talkers

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Sam Billison provided the voice and phrases for the "Navajo Code Talker" G.I. Joe, and he knows of what he speaks. <br><br>During World War II, Billison was part of a specially

Wednesday, March 1st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Sam Billison provided the voice and phrases for the "Navajo Code Talker" G.I. Joe, and he knows of what he speaks.

During World War II, Billison was part of a specially trained group of Navajo Marines who translated radio communications into unbreakable codes using the Navajo language. They were known as code talkers. A group of 17 Comanche Indians handled the same role for the Army on the European battlefields of World War II.

"They came out and recorded me," said Billison, 74, a delegate to the Navajo Tribal Council who lives in Window Rock, Ariz. "I talk slow so they increased my speed." The action figure comes with a short history of the code talkers.

Lift the foot-tall toy's arm and he says seven phrases in Navajo, followed by English translations. "Request air support" and "attack by machine gun" are among them.

The important thing, Billison said, is "that this will let people know about the code talkers. I think it's really going to put us on the map."

Navajo G.I. Joe, shipped to stores nationwide in February, is one of 22 classic G.I. Joe figures. Among the others are a female Army helicopter pilot, Japanese-American soldiers in World War II and President Kennedy as a PT boat commander.

The toy's maker, Hasbro, agreed to donate $5,000 to the Navajo Code Talkers Association and plans to give a Navajo G.I. Joe to each of the approximately 150 surviving code talkers.