Chester Nez

Chester Nez

By: Hannah Dahlke

92 year old Chester Nez is the last living Navajo code talker of WWII. The 29 original code talkers were the people that created the unbreakable code the U.S. used during WWII. This was a big turning point because Japan cracked every single code that we had used before. These code talkers were recruited off of a Navajo reservation in the states of New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, and Colorado. New Mexico was where Chester had lived before going to create the code. He grew up on his grandmother's farm, herding sheep by the time he was five. The Navajos were used to tough conditions because they had to walk 15-20 miles every day to find green grass for their herd of sheep. Because the Navajo people had to search for green grass everyday, they didn't have any problems sharing with their neighbors. This played a part in the making of the code because they didn't have to argue as much about what should go into the code. Another important detail that went into the making of the code was that the creators had to be fluent in both English and Navajo. The Navajo children that went to the boarding school that Chester went to were bullied because they spoke their native language. Chester forgave the U.S. for that and still wanted to serve for our country. Louie Zamperini, from the story Unbroken, also forgave the U.S. because he was also mistreated, but for being Italian, not Navajo. Chester also claimed, "I am very happy I had a chance to serve our country." With this being said, we can say that Louis and Chester had gone through a lot, but had made it through and accomplished something that they would be proud of for years to come.