“That’s how I spent the war,” Mr. Kinsel said in the interview with The Arizona Republic. The Associated Press reported that the only two surviving Navajo Code Talkers are Thomas H. Begay and Peter MacDonald, a former Navajo chairman. John Kinsel Sr. was born in 1917 in Cove, Ariz., according to the Navajo Times. He completed boot camp and was sent to Camp Elliott, where he underwent training to become a Navajo Code Talker. He was sent to New Zealand, where he trained for eight more months before being deployed to Guadalcanal, one of the Solomon Islands, with the Third Marine Division, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

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Persons: Kinsel, Camp Elliott, Mr, Thomas H, Begay, Peter MacDonald, John Kinsel Sr Organizations: The Arizona, Ninth Marine Regiment, Third Marine Division, U.S . Department of Veterans Affairs, The Arizona Republic, Associated Press, Navajo, Navajo Times, Marines, Department of Veterans Affairs Locations: The Arizona Republic, Camp, Bougainville, Papau New Guinea, Guam, Iwo Jima, Ariz, New Zealand, Guadalcanal, Solomon