By Kami Dalton
As students prepared for BYU''s Cedartree powwow last week, one individual stood out: a stooped man in his 80s, wearing a bright yellow shirt with military decorations and a necklace of turquoise.
Albert Smith, a former Navajo code talker, shared his experiences in a lecture Thursday night, March 22, 2007.
'Those of you who are interested in furthering educations, you better understand some of the results of war,' Smith said. 'Sometimes even though it''s a sad thing, war can change people. I''m hoping someday Iraq will learn the same thing.'
Smith also told students it is important to learn about people and cultures.
'I see so many of you using two, three, even four languages, which is good,' Smith said. 'The more languages you know, you are better equipped for all the ways of life.'
Smith also discussed the choice he and his brother made to go to war even though they were not recognized as citizens.
'My elders told me to take care of mother earth at all costs,' he said. 'Without mother, we have no freedom.'
Smith was 15 when he and his older brother enlisted. They listed their ages as two years older each, in order to enter the military at the same time. Not long after, it was ruled that siblings could not serve in the same units because it would be too hard on families to lose multiple children at once. Albert was placed in the Marine Corps Fourth Division, while his brother served in the second division.
When Albert returned, his elders advised him: 'leave your war stories behind. Leave it where it happened.' Albert''s wife, who he met in 1947, did not know he was a code talker until the code was declassified in 1968.
Since retirement, Smith has traveled across the nation educating younger generations. His niece, 2006 Miss Indian BYU Farina Smith, said she chose history as her major because of her uncle''s influence.
'It''s a heritage of freedom,' she said. 'I know he''ll always be an influence on me, and on my children.'