Career
Oliver was part of a unit of Navajos who worked to confuse Japanese forces in the Pacific during World World War II through the transmission of messages in the Navajo language. Oliver grew up in a rural area between Shiprock and Farmington, New Mexico and graduated from the Shiprock Agricultural High School in 1940. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on March 23, 1943 and served with the 2nd Marine Division.
He was honorably discharged on December 11, 1945.
Willard Oliver died on October 14, 2009, at the Northern Arizona Veterans Affairs Health Care System Hospital in Prescott, Arizona, at the age of 88. Navajo President Joe Shirley Junior. ordered that American flags on the Navajo Nation be lowered to half staff in Oliver"s honor.
His funeral was held on October 17, 2009, in his hometown of Lukachukai, Arizona.
