Chester
"Betoli"
Nez
Born in Chi Chil Tah, McKinley County, New Mexico, United States
Son of [father unknown] and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Husband of
Ethel Pearl (Catron) Nez
— married
27 Jun 1953 (to about 1973) in Apache, Cochise, Arizona, United States
Died
at age 93
in Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, New Mexico, United States
Profile last modified
| Created 15 Nov 2014
This page has been accessed 1,201 times.
Biography
Chester Nez is Notable.
Chester was Navajo.
Chester Nez was the last surviving member of the original Navajo Code Talkers of World War II. He was one of the 29 men who developed and implemented the top-secret code that was unbreakable by the Japanese. He served in the United States Marine Corps in the 382nd Infantry Regiment from 1942 to 1945 in the Pacific Theatre.
He and five other original code talkers received the Congressional Gold Medal from President George W. Bush on July 26, 2001.
- "Today, we marked a moment of shared history and shared victory. We recall a story that all Americans can celebrate and every America [sic] should know. It is a story of ancient people called to serve in a modern war. It is a story of one unbreakable oral code of the Second World War, messages travelling by field radio on Iwo Jima in the very language heard across the Colorado plateau centuries ago." — President George W. Bush
Chester was unable to share his story with anyone until after the operation was declassified in 1968. He wrote a memoir about his war experiences, Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir by One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII, with Judith Schiess Avila in 2011.[1]A second book was written as well, titled -The Life and Times of the Code Talker. [2]Then a childrens' book came out more recently (2018), about Chester Nez, which is also non-fiction and about his time as a codetalker, titled- Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talker's Story[3]
1942 - Sent to Gaudal Canal, Interview with Larry King[4]
Chester Nez collection: Veterans History Project- Library of Congress, "Chester Nez Excerpts of Interview- (8)
- 1.Marine Corps recruiters came to his high school campus; he and his roommate decided to join; wanted to leave the reservation “to see something different,” to defend his country and his people. [5]
Watch this video where he tells his story.
Death
CBS News - "Last of Original Group of Navaho Code talkers dies at 93"[6]
French Funerals and Cremations- Obituaries- Chester Nez[7]
He married Ethel (Catron) in 1953.[8][7]
Sources
- ↑ Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir By One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII Chester Nez, Judith Schiess Avila, September 6, 2011 Sold by Penguin, Google Play Books, https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Chester_Nez_Code_Talker?id=zeEBYpvs8JAC
- ↑ The Life and Times of the Code Talker, Chester Nez, Judith Schiess Avila, Penguin, Dec 4, 2012 - Biography & Autobiography - 82 pages, https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Life_and_Times_of_the_Code_Talker.html?id=GQ27zFpfcuEC
- ↑ Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talker's Story Joseph Bruchac, Albert Whitman & Company, Apr 3, 2018 - Juvenile Nonfiction - 32 pages, https://books.google.com/books/about/Chester_Nez_and_the_Unbreakable_Code.html?id=FTFHDwAAQBAJ
- ↑ 2002: Chester Nez speaks about experience in Guadalcanal, Jun 4, 2014, Larry King Weekend, w/Senator Jeff Bingaman, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbBkawpUxDc
- ↑ Veterans History Project, LOC, Chester Nez, Titled- Interview Excerpts, 1. (marine corps recruiters/high school, https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.54891/afc2001001_054891_mv0001001_640x480_800.stream?start=63&clipid=d9301e67
- ↑ CBS News, Jun 4, 2014, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/last-of-original-group-of-navajo-code-talkers-dies-at-93/
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Obituaries, French Funerals and Cremations, https://www.frenchfunerals.com/obituary/Chester-Nez
- ↑ "Arizona, County Marriages, 1871-1964," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QG1X-GZWC : 29 November 2018), Chester Nez and Ethel Catron, 27 Jun 1953; citing Marriage, Apache, Cochise, Arizona, United States, Arizona Department of Libraries, Archives, and Public Records, Phoenix; FHL microfilm 007541664.
- http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/2014/06/04/arizona-navajo-code-talker-dies-nez/9965201/
- Wikipedia: Chester Nez
- Find A Grave memorial
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edited by Jillaine Smith