Navajo was one of the few languages that Japanese code breakers failed to crack.

by Megan Geuss - June 5 2014

 

U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Chester Nez recieves an American flag from Pfc. Tiffany Boyd, at Code Talker Hall, Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., April 4, 2014. The flag was flown over the Marine Corps War Memorial, on the first day of spring in honor of Cpl. Nez's attendace at the Platoon 382 Hall rededication. Cpl. Nez is the last of the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers of World War II.

 

 

On Wednesday Chester Nez, one of the 29 original Navajo code talkers who worked for the US during WWII sending secret messages in their native language, died in his home in Alburquerque, NM. Nez was 93 and his death was confirmed by Judy Avila, who helped him write his memoirs, according to the Los Angeles Times.

 

Nez was one of the first code talkers recruited for the job in 1942, while the US was seeing its codes broken over and over again by Japanese code breakers. According to AZCentral, he was in 10th grade when he was recruited by US Marines, who came to his boarding school in Arizona looking for native Navajo speakers.

 

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Interesting story, I did contemplate putting this in non-techie but thought he deserved a little bit better ;)