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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA hero has passed...
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. 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.
"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."
Despite all of the wrongs, when they were needed the Navajo and other Natives stepped forward when called.
RIP
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)mtasselin
(666 posts)The death of this man will go unnoticed by 99.9999 percent of Americans and that is truly a shame. A true American Hero and Rest In Peace.
Jenoch
(7,720 posts)What is intersting is that there were code talkers from several American Indian tribes.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_talker
nolabear
(41,991 posts)Alex P Notkeaton
(309 posts)renate
(13,776 posts)Can you imagine being, basically, one of the people who saved the world and you couldn't tell anybody for all those years?
And how grateful we should all be, especially considering how Native Americans have been treated by our government. Their decision to step up was true grace.
laundry_queen
(8,646 posts)the Code Talkers were second only to the Manhattan Project in considering the importance of keeping a program secret
pintobean
(18,101 posts)RIP Chester Nez, and thank you.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)Very sad...
...save indigenous languages
mrsadm
(1,198 posts)smallcat88
(426 posts)R.I.P.
burrowowl
(17,645 posts)And to think he was sent to a school were they prevented him to speak his native language!
niyad
(113,552 posts)kelliekat44
(7,759 posts)niyad
(113,552 posts)Tanuki
(14,920 posts)brewens
(13,620 posts)You can't be around them much without noticing that it at least looks like their rate of military service is relatively high compared to everywhere else I go. Next time I see a military recruiter, I'm going to try and remember to ask how he does with the tribe. I bet pretty well.
niyad
(113,552 posts)By the Numbers: A Look at Native Enlistment During the Major Wars
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/02/06/numbers-look-native-enlistment-during-major-wars-153354
never shied away from a good fight.
calimary
(81,466 posts)Glad you're here. THIS is the true patriotism. Not the poseur type with their teabag-festooned toys and costume-play hats. THIS is the true patriotism. Remarkable story. THIS makes me feel proud. The other chickenshit types make me feel ashamed.
ALBliberal
(2,344 posts)A reminder of the moral center. Our current political discourse seems so frivolous as I read about this man his journey and what he gave to our country.
elzenmahn
(904 posts)Iwillnevergiveup
(9,298 posts)the Great Spirit holding Chester Nez in his arms...close and safe.
Iwillnevergiveup
(9,298 posts)nikto
(3,284 posts)And Hoka Hey!
mrmpa
(4,033 posts)whistler162
(11,155 posts)DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)Thanks!
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)calimary
(81,466 posts)THANK YOU for posting this, DeSwiss! They used to use music like this in the cool-down period after cardio class. It was just so wonderful!!! Keeping it. I went to the Youtube version and bookmarked that whole page of R. Carlos Nakai. The tribes always seem to know best. Wonderful. JUST WONDERFUL!!!!
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)Here's another favorite of mine you may like:
sarisataka
(18,770 posts)I'll have to save this
DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)...that a warrior who leaves the protection of the four sacred mountains must have the Blessing Way Ceremony and this song is played and sung by the Hatałii (Medicine Man) and the family members the clan has chosen to do the blessing.
- He's had this ceremony once I assume, when he left in WWII. And now he leaves again for the final time in this world.....
dbackjon
(6,578 posts)R Carlos Nakai was born and raised in the sight of the west mountain, the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff.
One of our celebrated fellow NAU students.
NAU also has a nice statue of a Code Talker by famed Native Artist RC Gorman. Gorman was an NAU alum and son of one of the original code talkers
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)mountain grammy
(26,648 posts)America like America abandoned them after first trying to annihilate their people.
It amazes me when oppressed people step up to serve the very country oppressing them and I thank them for their service.
calimary
(81,466 posts)THAT is a patriot. Not some aging slob with a three-cornered hat from the local costume shop, with tea bags stapled on from the rim of it. So glad sarisataka posted this. Keeping this entire thread! The music in the video DeSwiss posted upthread is so incredibly beautiful and healing! Here it is again. Check out that whole YouTube page. Comes as a most welcome antidote to the shrieking idiocy we're forced to slog through these days.
HIGHLY recommended!!!
mountain grammy
(26,648 posts)FailureToCommunicate
(14,020 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)they, and the neighboring Hopi tribe, were apparently tricked 20 years later into signing a lease to mine coal at one of their sacred places, Black Mesa:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Mesa_Peabody_Coal_controversy
Uncle Joe
(58,417 posts)Thanks for the thread, sarisataka.