navajo code talkers, journey remembrance. >> george colburn is a filmmaker and historian and your work on the navajo code you traveled all over the world. what was this like for you? >> it was the adventure of life. it's still hard to believe there was actually with these heroes of arld war ii who made

host: george colburn, thanks for stopping by. parttory of sam sandoval, of the documentary produced by filmmaker and historian george colburn. being back here now with your fellow navajosr and so on, to come back here, i don't know if you have been back here since the war before, but i wondered if the year with your colleagues, your comrades in arms, and seeing what guam is like today as a former battlefield that you have visited, could you maybe help us understand how you feel, and if you feel it is important to have made this visit here, that type of thing. samuel: being far away from mainland of the usa, i introduced myself -- i introduce myself as samuel sandoval. i would like to express my personal life, my whole person and my mind and everything i say and everything i see. within the heart, there are some deep feelings that comes back with me. i might say that it is emotional to see one of our comrades' name on these memorials here. it hits, but have to learn as a person that would depend on the higher power. as a tradition

george colburn: the code talkers, except for a unique individual were mainly kids.gers who were excited by the lure of being warriors again. they'd been brought up in

george colburn, thanks for joining us.

george colburn, thank you for stopping by. >> being back here now with your navajoses, your fellow -- to come back here, i don't know if you have been back but i wonder if being with your colleagues and seeing what guam is like today as a former battlefield that you visited, could you make us understand how you feel and if you feel it is important to have made this visit and that type of thing. samuel: being far away from the , i introducehe usa myself as samuel sandoval. myould like to express personal life, my whole person and my mind and everything i say and everything i see, and within the heart, there are some deep feelings that comes back with me. that it is emotional ' name one of our comrades on these memorials here. , but have to learn as a person that would depend on the higher power. in a traditional way, i was caught by my great, great grandfather. he was one of the warriors. and i learnedhim a lot of discipline from him. you are going out into the world, and i did not know what he meant. this is what it meant to me today. when he tried to tell me this was no way of living

george colburn, thank you us.being with >> it's very nice to be here. >> here's part of that interview with albert smith, film puthe together by our guest here on american history tv. >> albert, i've heard you talk many times, you've talked in very emotional, spiritual terms about this back to the battlefields trip, you're on a very place today, iwo jima. initialwhat your response is to actually here. >> my initial response to is i wanted to talk to spiritual father, that's thei went down to beach. and that's where i was spiritual my helpers,ith the in theroduce myself and to quietay down the ocean a little, a little breeze, and i thanked them for being able to help this war, to come this far. and i thanked them for all of the relatives we have, friends that we have accumulated since the end of tho told themct and i about shaking hands with my enemies. the first thing i did on my way down, whenever i got to point along the way i took enemies a picture. the east, the west, to and to the north to get my bearings and to get myself comfortable with my spiritual father, to to visit with the

the first we hear from filmmaker and historian george colburn, who conducted the interviews for his documentary -- navajo code talkers: journey of remembrance. cockburn, explain how this project came together. >> method is a long story, it was really stimulated by the impending release of the wind talkers, starring a big international star,

but first, we hear from film maker and historian george colburn who conducted the interviews for hisntary project, navajo code talkers, journey of remembrance.

host: george colburn, thanks for stopping by. parttory of sam sandoval, of the documentary produced by filmmaker and historian george colburn. being back here now with your fellow navajosr and so on, to come back here, i don't know if you have been back here since the war before, but i wondered if the year with your

navajo code talkers, journey remembrance. >> george colburn is a filmmaker and historian and your work on the navajo code you traveled all over the world. what was this like for you? >> it was the adventure of life. it's still hard to believe there was actually with these heroes of a bigwar ii who made difference in the island campaign, successful campaign of the marine corp corps. i've been to a lot of places, but nothing like the world war ii battlefields in pacific, you know, which famous even today thanks to movies and are honored particularly now as the yates generation disappear. >> at what point did the marines realize what they in these code talkers? was iwo jima and that small island, you go to the top of the mountain you can see the end of the island. tens ofe were of people on that island trying to kill each other. about 800 quote messages being sent, all of them perfectly sent and by time iwo jima was done the code talkers were recognized throughout the critical to your battlefield's successes. >> and how did this frustrate the japanese? because they were trying to code.the

george colburn: the code talkers, except for a unique individual were mainly kids. teenagers who were excited by the lure of being warriors again. they'd been brought up in a warrior tradition in a tribe that had been obviously overrun by the american military. not within their lifetime but the lifetime of their grandparents. they grew up with grandparents remembered what they called euphemistically "the long walks" into captivity. so, they were, i was quite amazed, starting out to learn that they wanted to go back and fight on behalf of the american government, which didn't even recognize them as citizens yet, they had no right to vote. and their poverty was, you know, documented by the bureau of indian affairs. and it's horrendous. how they lived at that time. but they philosophically came to a point of view that this is our country, all of it. and you will see in my program that we closed the show with the rationale on why did you go to war on the -- on behalf of your oppressors? and this land was theirs. and they were going to treated that way. and the japanese

but first, we hear from film maker and historian george colburn who conducted the interviews for his documentary project, navajo code talkers, journey of remembrance. host: film maker and historian george colburn, thank you very much for sharing your interviews with the navajo code talkers for c-span3's american history tv. who were they? george: the code talkers, except for a unique individual, were mainly kids, teenagers who were excited by the lure of being warriors again. they had been brought up in a warrior tradition in a tribe that had been obviously overwhelmed by the american military. not within their lifetime but the lifetime of their grandparents, they grew up with grandparents who remembered the -- what they called euphemistically the long walks into captivity. so they were -- i was quite amazed starting out to learn that they wanted to go back and ight on behalf of the american government which didn't even recognize them as citizens yet. they had no right to vote. and their poverty was, you know, documented by the bureau of indian affairs, and it's -- it's horrendous ho

from filmmaker and historian, george colburn, who conducted the interviews for his documentary. documentary, explain how the project came together. george: that is a long story. it was stimulated by the internationalase star. it coal talkers did not like because it was fiction and it was not their story. it was the story of nicholas cage's character. something that a marine would never do and that issued another marine. it was not possible to think in those terms. the chiefwed historian at the time of the marine corps and he said there could have been no order for someone to kill another marine to keep the japanese from capturing a marine. it is implausible. the code talkers were not happy attorney film, and the for the code talker association and i went to mgm and tried to get them to fund a documentary. they did not fund the documentary. gift to the code talkers -- a substantial gift, to them. it came about to try to get the true story out there about who the code talkers were and what their mission was. interview them here in the u.s. and then where? --george: thanks to the le

george colburn, thanks for joining us. in just a moment we will show our audience another segment from your film, "navajo code talkers: journey of remembrance." explain the process. this became a series of interviews here in the u.s. in their homes and then across the pacific. george: that's right. the interviews in their homes came after we had gone on two trips to the pacific islands. we broke them up having to do with the limited access to he is anam a, even though it iconic battlefield of world war ii and the flag raising their. the symbol of victory in the and proud moment for the u.s. marine corps. put the trips -- make them into one, they would be too long away from home. we had to work that one day the japanese allowed the marine corps to come back and honor their dead and so on. so, there were two long trips and i could see things opening willingnessof their memories, ieir guess is the best way to put it. special,the television when that comes about, is going to be called "a journey of remembrance." the project is