JOSEPH PEVNEY, 96

JERRY C. BEGAY, 83

Navajo code talker

Jerry C. Begay, a Navajo code talker who helped confound the Japanese during World War II and was awarded a Congressional Silver Medal, died Monday in Albuquerque, N.M. No cause of death was given.

The code talkers were an elite group of Navajo Marines who transmitted radio messages during the war in a coded version of their native language. The codes were never cracked by enemy forces; the talkers' existence was a military secret for decades after the war ended.

Mr. Begay served in Tarawa during the U.S. invasion of the Japanese island.

He was active in the Navajo Code Talkers Association and received the Congressional Silver Medal in 2001.