Heroes of the South Pacific
Chester Nez
From the Hairpin. Retrieved 17 March 2022. https://www.thehairpin.com/2014/06/rip-chester-nez-last-of-the-original-navajo-code-talkers/
Chester Nez
From Defense Media Network. Retrieved 17 March 2022. https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/navajo-code-talkers-photos/
The Twenty-Nine Original Code Talkers
Chester Nez is highlighted with the arrow
Meet Chester Nez
Chester Nez was one of the first twenty-nine Navajo Code Talkers that served in United States Marine Corps during the second world war, and he was an integral part of creating the Navajo code that was used to win the war in the South Pacific. Nez was recruited in 1942 when he was only 18 years old, and at the time of joining the Marine Corps, Nez and his fellow Navajo volunteers had no knowledge of what their participation in the war would be. After a month in boot camp, the twenty-nine Navajo men were transferred to Camp Elliot in California, where they spend thirteen weeks creating the code, which, at the time, they weren’t aware was top secret information. It wasn’t until Nez had been discharged that he learned about the classified nature of the code through a newspaper. In total, Nez served eight years in the Marine Corps: four during World War II, two during the Korean War, and two on reserve. Nez is open about the mental toll that serving in both wars put on him, but he is adamant that he did the right thing by serving and fighting for his country. Nez had firsthand experience of the
abuse that Native American children suffered in boarding schools and at the hands of the U.S. government, and yet, he was still proud that he defended his country and its freedom, and that he answered the call to serve. Nez was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2001, and passed away in 2014.
From CNN. Retrieved 17 March 2022. https://www.cnn.com/2014/06/06/living/code-talker-chester-nez-native-american-language/index.html
Nez on why he decided to join the Marine Corps, even with everything he had been through
Chester Nez Collection
(AFC/2001/001/54891), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress. Time: (1:12:35 to 1:13:08). Video taken October 2003.
The Code Talkers' Facilitation of Racial Justice
Chester Nez and his fellow twenty-eight original Navajo Code Talkers advanced racial justice through their actions of joining the Marine Corps right out of high school, and by developing a secret code based on their Navajo language and culture. Nez explained how his decision to join to Marine Corps was based on his interest to see how other people learned, as he wanted to see something new and different. He and his fellow code talkers were also influenced to volunteer in the Marine Corps because they wanted to protect their people and their country. There were up to 200 Navajo men that volunteered to fight,
Chester Nez Collection
(AFC/2001/001/54891), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress. Time: (10:18 to 11:13). Video taken October 2003.
but since the men were picked based on their fluency in English or their high school graduation status, only twenty-nine were chosen. But, when these men volunteered, they had no idea what their roles would be in the Marine Corps. It wasn’t until they had left boot camp and almost finished their training at Camp Elliot that they had been informed that their task was to invent a new code that could be used for secret communications among U.S. troops. As Nez recounts, when the code talkers were told that their Navajo language was going to be the basis of this new code, they were surprised, and wondered how they were going to integrate their language with military terms and equipment names. Much of the words and letters in the code relates to animals, which Nez explains in the video above. No one was instructing the code talkers on what to do, and for thirteen weeks, they sat all day in one room, writing down their ideas and creating this new code. The Navajo Code Talkers, even though they didn’t know it at the time, were devising one of the most important secrets at that time and had made something that was going to be crucial in winning the war in the South Pacific. Nez and the code talkers’ actions illustrate how incredibly brave they were to volunteer to fight, and how astonishingly smart and creative they were in the ways that they integrated their surroundings into their Navajo language to make a new code.
Challenges Faced by Chester Nez
Even while Nez was serving his country and putting his life in danger for the freedom of the United States, he still faced racism. Nez recounts one memory that he has of when he and his partner were completing a task for the Army and were starting to head back to the communications center as the sun was going down. As Nez remembers:
From Defense Media Network. Retrieved 17 March 2022. https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/navajo-code-talkers-photos/
“‘Two guys stopped us, and they thought we were a couple of Japanese getting into their lines and we told them no. We didn’t tell them that we were code talkers. All we told them was that we were a couple of communication telephone operators. They didn't believe us. This guy took a .45 and stuck it in my head, and my buddy, they had a rifle on him. They stopped us completely and didn’t believe what we had told them…that was the most scary thing that happened to me. I thought that these guys were going to shoot us’” (Chester Nez Collection (AFC/2001/001/54891),Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress : 35:22 to 36:33).
Nez and the other code talkers did not look like other U.S. soldiers, which caused them to come under suspicion by soldiers who didn’t believe their stories. Luckily, in this case, Nez and his partner were able to have their story confirmed by someone else in the communications center, but this is a perfect example of how, because Nez and the other code talkers didn’t look like typical white U.S. soldiers, their stories and alliances were doubted, even when they were simply doing their job. Before Nez even entered the Marine Corps, he had already experienced the challenges of racism, as he and his sister spent many years at a boarding school in Arizona. Nez remembers the children not being visited by their parents very often, as the boarding school was miles and miles away from where everyone lived. Nez also remembers how children were abused, and many kids went hungry from the lack of food. Children were punished for speaking the Navajo language, but it was the usage of this language that actually ended up allowing the U.S. to win the war in the South Pacific. Nez was able to overcome the abuse and racism that he faced in this boarding school, and still volunteered to fight for his country, and the freedom of his people. Nez also struggled with post-traumatic stress from the war, as losing his buddies and being in the middle of the war took a large toll on him. Thankfully, when he returned home to his reservation, he underwent a cleansing ceremony that significantly helped with his bad dreams and stress, although the experience of the war never completely left his mind.
Impacts of the Code Talkers' Work
Chester Nez’s and the other code talkers’ actions have had a major impact on not only racial justice, but also on world history. The usage of the code that these men invented is what allowed the U.S. to win the war in the South Pacific, and without them, who knows what would have been the outcome of World War II. By using the Navajo language, and parts of the Navajo culture, in creating the code, the Navajo Code Talkers also showed the U.S., and the world, how important Indigenous languages are, and how essential they are to society. Nez explained how animals in the Navajo language were connected with letters and military equipment in the code. For example, swordfish was used to indicate torpedoes,
Nez explaining the importance of learning about the code talkers
Chester Nez Collection
(AFC/2001/001/54891), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress. Time: (1:02:56 to 1:03:32). Video taken October 2003.
sharks were used to indicate submarines, bears were used to indicate the letter ‘b,’ and cats were used to indicate the letter ‘c.’ By using their Navajo culture and language, the code talkers created a top-secret code that allowed the U.S. to claim victory in the war, and demonstrated to those who tried to erase Indigenous cultures and languages how wrong they were for doing so. Nez and some of the other Navajo Code Talkers travelled around the U.S. to major cities, such as Washington D.C., Phoenix, and Los Angeles, to talk about their time as code talkers, and to teach the younger generations about the key roles they played in World War II. Nez expressed how he enjoyed teaching younger generations about the code talkers and wants people to know what using the Navajo language to win the war in the South Pacific meant for his tribe, and what is means for younger kids. Nez is extremely proud of the work that he and the other Navajo Code Talkers did, and he is also grateful for the thankfulness and appreciation that he has received from not only his family and friends, but also the entire United States.
A few of the photos that Chester Nez had hanging on his wall
The Navajo Code Talkers receiving the Congressional Gold Medal
From UTM.edu. Retrieved 17 March 2022. https://www.utm.edu/staff/jmiller/honors2005/11silko/christaww2.htm
The last four of the original code talkers
From The Department of Veteran Affairs. Retrieved 17 March 2022. https://blogs.va.gov/VAntage/32455/chester-nez-a-native-american-veteran/nez-3/
The original 29 Code Talkers after completing training
From History.net. Retrieved 17 March 2022. https://www.historynet.com/unbreakable-navajo-code/
Chester Nez
"Chester Nez during World War II." From Wikipedia. Retrieved 17 March 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_Nez
From United States Navy Memorial. Retrieved 17 March 2022. https://www.navymemorial.org/tales-from-the-navy-log/2020/8/14/talking-code-honoring-service-remembering-the-navajo-code-talkers