Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Last original WWII Navajo Code Talker, a Marine, dies on the birthday of the Corps
WDTPRS ^ | November 11, 2014 | Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Posted on 11/11/2014 11:45:07 AM PST by NYer

The last Navajo Code Talker, Chester Nez, USMC died on 10 November 2014, the 239th birthday of the Corps. They played a vital role during WWII.

From Source

Marine veteran Michael Smith wept Wednesday when he heard about the death of Chester Nez, the last of the original Navajo Code Talkers.

Smith, from Window Rock, who had met Nez several times, described him as a “quiet, humble” Navajo Marine.

Smith said that the passing of Nez — the last of the first 29 Navajo men who created a code from their language that stumped the Japanese in World War II — marked the closure of a chapter in the story of a special group of veterans.

Nez died Wednesday morning in Albuquerque, where he lived with his son Michael. He was 93. His family said he died of kidney failure.

“It’s the chapter about the first Navajo Code Talkers coming to a close,” said Smith, 52, whose late father was also a Code Talker, but not one of the original group. “People talk about it, and you never think it’s going to happen in your lifetime. They are carrying the past with them.

“To see this in a lifetime, it’s sad. I hope it makes us (Navajo people) stronger.”

Other Navajo veterans echoed Smith’s words in the Navajo language, saying Nez “baa hane’ yée éí t’áá kódiíji’ bíighah silíí’,” his life story ends here.

Smith said that creating the code “was a unit effort. As Marines we are all one. We fight as one with the tools that we are given.” [A good approach to life. 'rah.]

The Code Talkers

Nez grew up in the tiny New Mexico Navajo community of Chi Chil Tah, in Jones Ranch, N.M.

Nez was attending the Tuba City Boarding School when the U.S. Marines came looking for young boys to help in World War II. Nez, in an interview three years ago, told The Arizona Republic he signed on with other friends because they were eager for an adventure that would allow them to see what was on the other side of the buttes.

[...]

Read the rest there.

R.I.P.


TOPICS: Government; History; Military/Veterans; Politics
KEYWORDS: americanindians; chesternez; codetalkers; marines; navajo; newmexico; obituary; ww2; wwii
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-24 next last

1 posted on 11/11/2014 11:45:07 AM PST by NYer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Tax-chick; GregB; SumProVita; narses; bboop; SevenofNine; Ronaldus Magnus; tiki; Salvation; ...

Greatest American generation, ping!


2 posted on 11/11/2014 11:45:42 AM PST by NYer ("You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears." James 4:14)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Well done Marine! Rest in peace!


3 posted on 11/11/2014 11:45:55 AM PST by vpintheak (Keep calm and Rain Steel!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Go now to your rest, brother. Semper Fi.

L


4 posted on 11/11/2014 11:46:56 AM PST by Lurker (Violence is rarely the answer. But when it is it is the only answer.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Thank-you for your service, RIP a TRUE American hero.


5 posted on 11/11/2014 11:47:20 AM PST by Biggirl (2014 MIdterms Were BOTH A Giant Wave And Restraining Order)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

God bless and Semper Fi. BTT


6 posted on 11/11/2014 11:48:16 AM PST by Billthedrill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

New Mexico is one of those states I would love to visit.


7 posted on 11/11/2014 11:48:43 AM PST by Biggirl (2014 MIdterms Were BOTH A Giant Wave And Restraining Order)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer
Actually, Chester Nez died earlier this year.

From his Wikipedia page - Chester Nez (January 23, 1921 – June 4, 2014) was an American veteran of World War II. He was the last original Navajo code talker who served in the United States Marine Corps during the war.

8 posted on 11/11/2014 11:49:39 AM PST by Texican72
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer


9 posted on 11/11/2014 11:50:03 AM PST by Brother Cracker (You are more likely to find krugerrands in a Cracker Jack box than 22 ammo at Wal-Mart)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CedarDave

NM ping


10 posted on 11/11/2014 11:53:02 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Biggirl

Indians are the one group who can claim they truly DO have a grudge with this country.

And yet they were all willing to make the supreme sacrifice.

Thank you, Semper Fi, and Rest In Peace!


11 posted on 11/11/2014 11:55:57 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: GreyFriar; All
Interview with Navajo Code Talker Chester Nez
12 posted on 11/11/2014 12:00:31 PM PST by NYer ("You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears." James 4:14)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

A Warrior and American Hero! Rest in peace sir!!


13 posted on 11/11/2014 12:04:38 PM PST by armydawg505
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer
May Chester Nez rest in peace.

Thank you for your service Marine.

5.56mm

14 posted on 11/11/2014 12:07:59 PM PST by M Kehoe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer
The code talkers are another area of military history where there is incredible ignorance, and injustice, as the true history of the code talkers and the various tribes (and even the Basque), and U.S. Army history is kept hidden.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic
U.S Army Choctaw Codetalkers. Image created before 1918.

"" The name code talkers is strongly associated with bilingual Navajo speakers specially recruited during World War II by the Marines to serve in their standard communications units in the Pacific Theater. Code talking, however, was pioneered by Choctaw Indians serving in the U.S. Army during World War I. These soldiers are referred to as Choctaw code talkers.

Other Native American code talkers were deployed by the United States Army during World War II, including Cherokee, Choctaw, Lakota Meskwaki, and Comanche soldiers. Soldiers of Basque ancestry were used for code talking by the U.S. Marines during World War II in areas where other Basque speakers were not expected to be operating.""

World War I

In France during World War I, the 142nd Infantry Regiment, 36th Division, had a company of Indians who spoke 26 languages and dialects. Two Indian officers were selected to supervise a communications system staffed by 18 Choctaw. The team transmitted messages relating to troop movements and their own tactical plans in their native tongue. Soldiers from other tribes, including the Cheyenne, Comanche, Cherokee, Osage and Yankton Sioux also were enlisted to communicate as code talkers. Previous to their arrival in France, the Germans had broken every American code used, resulting in the deaths of many Soldiers. However, the Germans never broke the Indians’ “code,” and these Soldiers became affectionately known as “code

talkers.” World War II

During World War II, the Army used Indians in its signal communications operations in both the European and Pacific theaters of operations. Student code talkers were instructed in basic military communications techniques. The code talkers then developed their own words for military terms that never existed in their own native tongue. For instance, the world for “colonel” was translated to “silver eagle,” “fighter plane” became “hummingbird,” “minesweeper” became “beaver,” “half-track” became “race track,” and “pyrotechnic” became “fancy fire.”

The Army and Marine Corps used a group of 24 Navajo code talkers in the Pacific Theater, who fought in the many bloody island campaigns. In North Africa, eight Soldiers from the Meskwaki tribe in Iowa served as code talkers in the 168th Infantry Regiment, 34th Division. In Europe, the 4th Signal Company, 4th Infantry Division, was assigned 17 Comanche code talkers. From the D-Day landings at Normandy in June 1944, to the liberation of Paris and the Battle of the Bulge, they kept the lines of communications secure.

Soldiers from other tribes, including the Kiowa, Winnebago, Chippewa, Creek, Seminole, Hopi, Lakota, Dakota, Menominee, Oneida, Pawnee, Sac, Fox and Choctaw served during the war. Some were killed and wounded and at least one was taken prisoner. As a testament to their professionalism, the enemy was never able to break the code talkers’ communications.

Many of the code talkers continued in their military careers, serving during the Korean and Vietnam wars."

15 posted on 11/11/2014 12:15:06 PM PST by ansel12 (The churlish behavior of Obama over the next two years is going to be spellbinding.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer
Where will we find the next generation to fill their shoes? Men willing to stand up and get the job done, ignore the sacrifice for a greater good. Men ignoring political correctness or expediency, men willing to stand in the gap.

Ezekiel 22:30 "I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.

16 posted on 11/11/2014 12:19:02 PM PST by verga (You anger Catholics by telling them a lie, you anger protestants by telling them the truth.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: verga
Where will we find the next generation to fill their shoes? Men willing to stand up and get the job done, ignore the sacrifice for a greater good. Men ignoring political correctness or expediency, men willing to stand in the gap.

Men willing to become radio operators, join the military, fight in war?

Today is veterans day, for all veterans, including those of the 69 years since WWII.

17 posted on 11/11/2014 12:38:17 PM PST by ansel12 (The churlish behavior of Obama over the next two years is going to be spellbinding.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Brave, brave men executing a brilliant plan. We done Pvt. Nez, rest easy.


18 posted on 11/11/2014 12:50:17 PM PST by muir_redwoods ("He is a very shallow critic who cannot see an eternal rebel in the heart of a conservative." G.K .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

RIP to this guy


19 posted on 11/11/2014 1:11:04 PM PST by SevenofNine (We are Freepers, all your media bases belong to us ,resistance is futile)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NYer

Finest Americans BUMP! Belated R.I.P., sir.


20 posted on 11/11/2014 3:36:46 PM PST by PGalt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-24 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson