Top of page

Veterans History Project Service Summary:

  • War or Conflict: World War, 1939-1945
  • Branch of Service: Marine Corps
  • Service Unit/Ship: Raiders Regiment; 6th Marine Division
  • Location of Service: Camp Pendleton, California; Bougainville Island (Solomon Islands); Guam (Mariana Islands); Okinawa Island (Ryukyu Islands)
  • Highest Rank: Private First Class
  • Collection Number: AFC/2001/001/9380

View full service history

"We were just all buddies… we were close, close like a family." (Audio interview, Part 2, 16:47)

Robert Yazzie was born in 1924 in Rehoboth, New Mexico, and remembers a difficult childhood marked by the typical hardships of the Great Depression. Yazzie weighed less than 90 pounds when he showed up at boot camp, and was put on extra rations to help him gain weight. He made it through boot camp and training at Camp Elliott to become a Code Talker, and experienced combat for the first time during the invasion of Bougainville in November-December 1943. He was assigned to work with the Marine Raiders until they were disbanded and he was reassigned to the 6th Marine Division for the Battle of Okinawa. In his interview, Yazzie is humble about his own role in the war effort, but proud to have been a part of what he called "the finest fighting outfits." (Audio interview, Part 2, 48:21) He remembers forming close bonds with the Marines he worked with, and also remembers serving as his platoon's barber - a task he was given due to his experience cutting his fellow students' hair at boarding school.

Robert H. Yazzie Collection
Interview / Recording

More Resources

Robert H. Yazzie Collection
Interview / Recording

Robert H. Yazzie Collection
Interview / Recording

About this Item

Title

  • Robert H. Yazzie Collection

Names

  • Nashville Room, Nashville Public Library
  • Yazzie, Robert H.
  • Patterson, Larry R. P.
  • Barnickel, Linda

Home State

  • Tennessee

Headings

  • -  Yazzie, Robert H.
  • -  World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal Narratives
  • -  United States. Marine Corps.

Repository

  • Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Gender

  • Male

Race

  • American Indian and Alaskan Native

Status

  • veteran

Service History

  • World War, 1939-1945

    • Branch of Service: Marine Corps
    • Service Unit/Ship: Raiders Regiment; 6th Marine Division
    • Location of Service: Camp Pendleton, California; Bougainville Island (Solomon Islands); Guam (Mariana Islands); Okinawa Island (Ryukyu Islands)
    • Highest Rank: Private First Class
    • Dates of Service: 1943-1945
    • Military Status: veteran
    • Service History Note: The veteran is a full blood Navajo and served as a member of the Navajo Code Talkers. His group (numbering about 200 fellow Navajos) was the second one to be sent to code talking school. After training, they were sent to the Pacific. After the war, Yazzie worked as an industrial welder.

Materials

  • Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 2003-07-07)
  • Audio: CD [1 item] -- Reference copy (collected 2003-07-07; 2015-05-07)
  • Audio: CD [1 item] -- Reference copy (collected 2003-07-07; 2015-05-07)
  • Audio: CD [1 item] -- Reference copy (collected 2003-07-07; 2015-05-07)
  • Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 2003-07-07)
  • Audio: Audio Cassette [1 item] -- Oral history interview (collected 2003-07-07)

Collection Number

  • AFC/2001/001/9380

Online Format

  • audio

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

Using VHP Material in Publication or Exhibition

The Veterans History Project (VHP) at the Library of Congress collects, preserves and makes accessible the firsthand recollections of U.S. military veterans who served from World War I through more recent conflicts and peacekeeping missions, so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand what they saw, did and felt during their service. The Veterans History Project Collection includes oral histories along with documentary materials such as original letters, diaries, photographs, and memoirs.

Veterans and interviewers contribute these materials to the Library for scholarly and educational purposes, retaining any copyright they may hold. Therefore, permission must be obtained before using the interview or other materials in exhibition or publication. Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these materials should contact the Veterans History Project for assistance.

As a publicly supported institution, the Library generally does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot give or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute material in its collections. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item from the Library’s collections and for securing any necessary permissions rests with persons desiring to use the item.

Please contact us with questions.

Obtaining Copies of VHP Materials

In order for VHP materials to be duplicated, we must receive written permission from the interviewee for you to obtain a copy of the recording unless the proposed use is limited to personal use, research, or other uses permissible by copyright law. If the interviewee is deceased, their next-of-kin may grant written permission.

Please contact VHP for assistance if you need to contact a veteran for permission to use their materials in exhibition or publication, or if you have received permission from the veteran and need access to high-resolution copies of VHP collection materials.

Citing VHP Materials

Please use the following formats when citing Veterans History Project materials (substituting the appropriate name and collection ID number).

Materials as a whole:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Manuscript material:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Memoirs (MS02), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Transcript (MS04), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Correspondence (MS01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Recording:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Audio recording (SR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Video recording (MV01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Photograph:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Photographs (PH01), photographer unknown, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.
  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Photographs (PH03-PH14), Ralph Williams photographer, Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Computer file:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Computer file (CF01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Artifact:

  • John P. Snodgrass (AFC 2001/001/[VHP collection]), Artifact (AR01), Veterans History Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Nashville Room, Nashville Public Library, Robert H Yazzie, Larry R. P Patterson, and Linda Barnickel. Robert H. Yazzie Collection. 1943. Personal Narrative. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.09380/.

APA citation style:

Nashville Room, N. P. L., Yazzie, R. H., Patterson, L. R. P. & Barnickel, L. (1943) Robert H. Yazzie Collection. [Personal Narrative] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.09380/.

MLA citation style:

Nashville Room, Nashville Public Library, et al. Robert H. Yazzie Collection. 1943. Personal Narrative. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.09380/>.