he was initially sent to hawaii by the marines. throughout world war ii, sandoval served with both the 2nd and 5th marine divisions. sandoval's main mission was to remain behind the front lines in order to translate reports from two-man code talker teams in other parts of the battlefield. he then sent the messages, which were encoded in navajo, back to united states commanders who were based on hawaii. he also had the responsibility of passing orders to marines on the front lines.