The Ramblings of a Crusty Old Sailor - Honoring Elwood "Woody" Hughes, member of the Navajo "Code-Talkers"

FOREVER IN OUR HEARTS

With a heavy heart, we share the news that World War II Marine legend Mr. Elwood "Woody" Hughes who landed at Iwo Jima in the 2nd wave, has died. He was 95.

He served in the 5th Marine Division, Signal Battalion. He worked with the Navajo "code-talkers," who used Native-American (little-known) languages as a basis to transmit coded messages to other Allies.

He has born in Jackson Township, Indiana, on May 14, 1925. He has fond memories of Ginger Hill's farm, where he and his sister, Martha Evelyn, grew up. He notes that basketball and girls topped his interests in the years leading up to Roanoke High School's graduation in 1943 – but a stint in the Marine Corps was next on the agenda.

During the Battle of Iwo Jima, he served as a runner on the front lines with Navajo code talkers. The code talkers transmitted to each other in their native language, which, because of the origin of their language, was fundamentally indecipherable to the Japanese, and Hughes would take the messages back to the battalion command.

Hughes also described seeing mutilated bodies and running amid artillery and mortar barrage, but he said he was never frightened. "In the Marine Corps, you are so concerned with doing the job that you block out the fear that comes with it," he said.

Hughes was discharged in 1946 and promptly attended Ball State University on the G.I. bill. In 1950, he graduated the same year he married Susan, who was from his hometown of Roanoke, Indiana. Their marriage lasted 63 years until she died in 2013.

Due to his lively character and unique outgoing style, Woody was instantly likable to all who met him. He was often remembered for his smile, a story, and a gleam in his eye. Hughes became a physical education teacher and baseball coach in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He coached Colas as a high school student half a century before reuniting and developing a close friendship.

In his retirement, his passion became educating the youth about service, sacrifice, and patriotism. Hughes could describe battles on the islands of Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian, and Guam, but his most requested testimony was about what he saw during the five-week war on Iwo Jima.

He is survived by his children, Ellen (Frank) Regalado, Emily Hughes, and William Victor (Teresa) Hughes; and his nine grandchildren and seventeen great-grandchildren.