Last original Navajo Code Talker dies

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. —Chester Nez, the last original Navajo Code Talker, has passed away in his Albuquerque home.

http://www.koat.com/news/last-origin...6325190#!ULs0L



Nez was recruited with 28 other Native Americans by the U.S. Marines to create a code the Japanese couldn't crack during World War II.

Nez went into kidney failure Wednesday morning. He was 93.

"Many people have met him," said Judy Avila, a friend and author of Nez's memoir. "When you meet him, you're charmed by him."

He was the last living member of the group.

"There were a lot of people and naysayers who said, 'How can these young Navajo men help us?' But it turned out to be the only unbroken spoken code in modern warfare," said Avila.

After Avila wrote the memoir, so many people showed up to a 2011 book signing in Albuquerque that the store sold out.

"I'm just happy that all these people reading (the memoir) will know what my Navajo people did for this country," said Nez.

After the success of the original 29 code talkers, more were recruited. Avila believes about 400 Navajos were enlisted.

The original 29 Code Talkers were given the Congressional Gold Medal in 2001. When then-President George W. Bush stuck out his hand to congratulate Nez, he stood at attention and saluted the commander-in-chief.

Mobile users: Click HERE to watch Royale's full on-air report

All flags on the Navajo Nation will be flown at half-staff until June 8 in honor of Nez.

Nez's public viewing will take place June 9 from 5-8 p.m. at French Mortuary, 10500 Lomas Blvd. NE.

A mass will be held June 10 from 10-11:30 a.m. at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church, 4020 Lomas Blvd. NE. A graveside service will be held at the Santa Fe National Cemetery from 1:30-2:15 p.m.



Read more: http://www.koat.com/news/last-origin...#ixzz33jKAWHCZ

RIP, and thank you!

Nice thread thanks for sharing.

Thanks for posting.....a nice reminder of honorable service.

Excellent post

Excellent post Originally Posted by Jewish Lawyer

+1 Let us remember them all for their service.



Here's one for BigTex, in this centennial year of WWI:


World War One: The original code talkers
By Denise Winterman
BBC News Magazine

When US military codes kept being broken by the Germans in WW1 a Native American tribe came to the rescue. They just spoke their own language - which baffled the enemy - and paved the way for other Native American "code talkers" in WW2.



It's an irony that probably didn't go unnoticed by Choctaw soldiers fighting in World War One. While the tribe's children were being whipped for speaking in their native tongue at schools back home in Oklahoma, on the battlefields of France the Native American language was the much-needed answer to a very big problem.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26963624

Why is that for BigTex, IBIdiot?

Are you taking a positive, sincere memorial to some outstanding Americans, with which NOBODY takes issue and attempting to start another of your name-calling dung flinging matches with it?

Bad form, IBidiot. Just like when you shat on Easter and Jesus Christ!

Grateful to the wind talkers for their outstanding contribution to our war efforts.

Some very impressive people. I was fortunate to me Mr Nez on a few occasions. A very good man. I am sorry for his passing but I pray their story will not be forgotten in history.

I lived in New Mexico and heard them speak, unless you were a Navajo you didn't know what they were saying, also people told me the same word could mean several things depending on how it was used.

Originally Posted by gnadfly

What a douchebag.

What a douchebag. Originally Posted by timpage

I guess they aren't as sensitive or as easily offended as the palefaces!

I guess they aren't as sensitive or as easily offended as the palefaces! Originally Posted by Jewish Lawyer

If you met one of the code-talkers, would you call him a "redskin"? Think about it.

If you met one of the code-talkers, would you call him a "redskin"? Think about it. Originally Posted by timpage

Of course not.
But, in Speaker's Corner in London one time, someone called me a whiteskin...I got over it.
BTW, if people want to give the billionaire owner of the Redskins a hard time, I don't really defend him, anyway. They should boycott games and merchandise, picket, whatever.
I believe it is a credible argument, though, that the name is meant to honor the warrior qualities of the Native Americans, and should be looked at as an honor in its own, old fashioned way.

I guess they aren't as sensitive or as easily offended as the palefaces! Originally Posted by Jewish Lawyer

Why not ask Austie Hero, JL?