Philip Johnston (code Talker) - Early Years

Early Years

Philip Johnston was born in Topeka, Kansas on September 17, 1892, the son of a missionary, William Johnston. The elder Johnston brought his family to Flagstaff, Arizona on September 16, 1896, to serve Navajos residing on the western part of the Navajo Reservation. Philip's father was able to intervene and defuse a potentially violent clash known as the Padre Canyon Incident, which revealed underlying tensions between Navajos and Anglos involving livestock rustling. For resolving that incident in a peaceful manner, local Navajo leaders allowed Reverend Johnston to build a mission 12 miles north of Leupp, Arizona. After that incident, Philip's father worked to expand the boundaries of the western part of the Navajo reservation in order to resolve livestock rustling disputes around which developing tensions were generally centered.

On the reservation, young Philip learned to speak Navajo while playing with Navajo children. In 1901 Philip traveled to Washington D.C. with his father and local Navajo leaders when they spoke to the newly appointed President Theodore Roosevelt to persuade him to add more land to the Navajo Reservation via an Executive Order. Philip was the Navajo/English translator between the local Navajo leaders and President Roosevelt.

Around 1909–10, Johnston attended the Northern Arizona Normal School, now "Northern Arizona University", where he earned an academic degree. In March 1918 he enlisted in the U.S. Army's 319th Engineers, where he received a reserve commission. Between March and September 1918 he trained in Camp Fremont at Menlo Park, California before being shipped to France as part of the AEF to participate in the Great War. It is here that he may have heard about Comanches being used as code talkers by U.S. Army units.

Johnston attended the University of Southern California, Los Angeles where he earned his graduate civil engineering degree in 1925. Afterwards he took a job with the city of Los Angeles water department.