Last of original group of Navajo Code Talkers dies [View all]

[Ptah]

FLAGSTAFF — The last of the 29 Navajos who developed a code that stumped
the Japanese during World War II has died.

Chester Nez, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, died Wednesday morning of kidney failure,
said Judy Avila, who helped Nez write his memoirs. He was 93.

Before hundreds of men from the Navajo Nation became Code Talkers, 29 Navajos
were recruited to develop the code based on the then-unwritten Navajo language.
Nez was in 10th grade when he enlisted, keeping his decision a secret from his family
and lying about his age, as did many others.

• Special feature: Navajo Code Talkers

"It's one of the greatest parts of history that we used our own native language during
World War II," Nez told The Associated Press in 2010. "We're very proud of it."

Of the 250 Navajos who showed up at Fort Defiance, Arizona, — then a U.S. Army base —
29 were selected to join the first all-Native American unit of Marines. They were inducted
in May 1942. Nez became part of the 382nd Platoon.



http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/2014/06/04/arizona-navajo-code-talker-dies-nez/9965201/