Chester Nez

      "I am very proud to have been able to serve this fine country." This was one of the many things that we heard Chester Nez say when we went to hear him talk. Nez grew up in New Mexico. Being a Navajo Indian, it was hard. If they even spoke one word of their native language in school, they would be beaten and hit. The teachers forced them to speak English in school, but when they went home they spoke Navajo. This made them have perfect speech in both languages, which was proven to be very helpful later on. 

        After Pearl Harbor was bombed, US Marine Officials gathered all of the Navajo Indians without telling them what they were doing. They then were sent through boot camp and Marine training, which they all excelled at. After they were completed with their training, they were told what they were there for. A secret mission. The Japanese had cracked every single code that the Americans had tried, so they could hear their plans and could always be one step ahead. They needed the Navajos to make up a new code that nobody could figure out, not even other Navajos. So the Navajo men deciphered a new code. They did it by taking an animal that started with that letter of the alphabet in English. and translating that to Navajo. So, Ant = A and so on. Before the Navajos, the Marines could send a message and get a reply in 4 hours. The Navajos did the same exact message and sent it and got a reply within 2 and a half MINUTES. This was the first ever code that the Japanese never cracked. 

       The story of Chester Nez reminded me of Louis Zamperini because they both put themselves in harms way just to help their country. Also, they were both treated as outcasts in their town. Even when they went home, they were not allowed to talk about the code.
       I think it was really fun to go and listen to Chester Nez because without him, we could have lost the war. It made it even more special that Chester was the last Code Talker. I am privileged to have been able to get this information from a primary source.