THE LAST CODE TALKER

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | Friday, November 11, 2011 | Journal Staff

[CedarDave]

With gnarled fingers, Chester Nez reverently opened the small box his son Mike had fetched for him at their West Mesa home. Even at 90 years old, Nez’s face still beams as he proudly opens it.

Careful not to touch the gold medal, Nez shares a secret.

“On the other side it says, ‘We used our language to defeat the enemy,’ and that’s what we did,” he said.

Nez carefully puts the lid back on the box and hands it to his son for safekeeping. Inside is a Congressional Gold Medal — one of only 29 in existence — given to Nez by then-President George W. Bush during a White House ceremony July 26, 2001.

Five of the “original 29″ Navajo Code Talkers, the men who developed and implemented the code that confounded the Japanese during World War II and was never broken, received the medals that day.

In a moment that speaks to the reverence Nez holds for his country, instead of shaking the president’s hand after being handed the medal, he saluted Bush as his commander-in-chief.

When the ceremony took place, five of the “original 29″ were living. Today, only Nez remains.

[RightOnline]

No medals maybe, but those “geeks” do yeoman’s work. Damned good work. Highly under-appreciated.

[fso301]

Ever since Nick Cage’s movie about these guys (Windtalkers, I believe?), I had and have a whole new appreciation for the contribution they made as a group to the American fighting effort.

Amazing men indeed but that movie was horrid.

[RightOnline]

...as many have said here. I didn’t find it nearly so bad (ok, it sure wasn’t Oscar material, but....). I didn’t give a damn about production values; it was the story of the Code Talkers that fascinated me.

[sten]

I’ve been writing code since I was 11. I’ve earned the title.

I just find it funny and obviously racially motivated

[cva66snipe]

It’s hard too believe but of our nations youngest surviving WW2 Vets most if not all are in their 80’s now.

[Fightin Whitey]

agreed

[BipolarBob]

bump for later
ping marking for later perusal

[annieokie]

Same here, yet I was disappointed that they did not have more on the code talkers, it was more about Cage's role, in that it was disappointing. Maybe a redo of sorts would be appropriate.

A movie of how they thought of this, how they enlisted these men, so many HOW'S could be used. Give us more on the Navajos. They certainly earned the respect and gratitude of all.

[SuziQ]

The first I ever heard of the Navajo Codetalkers was in 1998, when our #2 son did a report on codes for a high school class. He came downstairs from doing his research all excited, asking if I’ve ever heard of them. I hadn’t, and it was fascinating hearing him talk about them.

[jmacusa]

They truly were an amazing breed of men. As Harry Truman once said, “The only thing new in the world is the history you don’t know’’. When I was ten years old(45 years ago) and my friends went out riding bikes or reading comic books, I’d go to the library and sit and read all the WW2 history I could find. It just fascinated me. I knew who these men were then. Glad to finally see most of America does now.

[NativeSon]

Thanks for the link.

I have wondered why it took so long to honor those Americans, I remember when it finally happened, it was a non event. It is wrong to celebrate such events that happened but I know that family were disappointed.

My maternal grandfather, my born of - shi chii, was in the air core in the Pacific, just a soldier my grandmother said. I never met him, knowing there are Dine that served and that live to remind us causes me to look towards them.

[Sharkman1959]

I have a picture of 2 Code Talkers who attended the Page, Arizona Veterans Day Parade. A buddy was in attendance and he posted their picture. Dan Akee and Bahe Ketchum, who was Grand Marshal of the parade were wearing Marine Corps garb.

God Bless them!

I’m not sure if this is ok, but here is a link if you want to check it out. I’m sure the mods will let me know if it’s not ok.

http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f98/honoring-my-great-uncle-70160/

[A.A. Cunningham]

these are the memories of a 90-year old GI(sic) 69 years after the landing.

Correction: these are the memories of a 90-year old Marine 69 years after the landing.

[CT]

I was in the Marines during Vietnam with a Navajo named Slowtalker. Good man. He was a grunt, like me.

[CedarDave]

Whoops...!

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks CedarDave. Note: this topic is from 11/12/2011. In a moment that speaks to the reverence Nez holds for his country, instead of shaking the president's hand after being handed the medal, he saluted Bush as his commander-in-chief. Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.