I'd heard of code talkers before, but I'd never really dived into their history. I found this book, written by one of the original 29 (or 32 if you go by Chester's numbers). Code talkers were a group of brave Native Americans who used the Navajo language to make sure the Japanese didn't know what the Americans were doing in the Pacific during WWII. The code was never broken and was much quicker and more efficient than what was being used previously.
I like how the memoir went through almost his entire life. It covers his childhood up until 2011. Chester passed away in 2014 and was the last surviving member of the original code talkers. He lived quite a life and went through so much.
I have the Kindle version and wanted to mention a few things. The text for the book ends at page 276. Acknowledgements, Navajo dictionary for the code, Bibliography, an index, maps of the islands Chester helped conquer, and pictures fill the rest of the book. The pictures start on page 347. The code was small and hard to read on my Paperwhite, but that's something I could fix.
This is one of the better memoirs I've read. The writing was easy to read, there were enough breaks if you wanted to stop for a while, and the subject matter was super interesting to me. I believe this is an important part of WWII history that shouldn't be forgotten. The impact these men had was so important to the Pacific theater, and it was a secret for so long. If you're at all interested in a life lived the Right Way, I recommend this book.
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Popular Highlights in this book
Although Native Americans were made citizens of the United States in 1924, we weren’t finally granted the right to vote in New Mexico until 1948, three years after I finished my service as a Navajo code talker in the Pacific War.Highlighted by 255 Kindle readers- Each letter became an English word beginning with that letter, and the English word was translated into a Navajo word.Highlighted by 219 Kindle readers
- We, like other Native Americans, had been born to the warrior tradition. Like other Navajos, we saw ourselves as inseparable from the earth we lived upon. And as protectors of what is sacred, we were both eager to defend our land.Highlighted by 209 Kindle readers
Chester Nez Lives Forever
CODE TALKER is the unsentimental, profoundly moving and humble story of a great Navajo warrior from the Greatest Generation, Chester Nez. He tells his life story with dignity and grace. He is no longer with us but in CODE TALKER, Chester Nez lives forever. He was one of the Navajo warriors who fought for the United States of America and created the code that the Japanese never broke, the communications code that gave the US Marine Corps and other US military units attached to the Marines the upper hand against the Japanese in countless battles in the Pacific. God rest the soul of Chester Nez, bravest of the brave and a humble, kind, tough and righteous cat. The only caveat I had with the book is that it did not reveal that First Nations' code talkers first fought in World War One--they were Cherokee and Choctaw, fighting for the United States in Europe. Here's an excerpt from the Wikipedia page on code talkers: "The name code talkers is strongly associated with bilingual Navajo speakers specially recruited during World War II by the US Marine Corps to serve in their standard communications units of the Pacific theater. Code talking, however, was pioneered by the Cherokee and Choctaw peoples during World War I. ****Other Native American code talkers were deployed by the United States Army during World War II, including Lakota,[3] Meskwaki, Mohawk,[4][5] Comanche, Tlingit,[6] Hopi,[7] Cree and Crow soldiers; they served in the Pacific, North African, and European theaters.[8]" Long life and blue skies, Mike Tucker author of ROGUE (Volume 1, The Rogue Trilogy)
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2011
- Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2025
Top reviews from other countries
- Thomas MerbtReviewed in Germany on May 19, 2013
Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir By One of the Original Navajo... Chester Nez
- MumblesReviewed in Australia on May 19, 2024
The book reveals another secret of world war two of which was not known until 1968
- ClarkReviewed in the United Kingdom on August 11, 2014
The true story of how the Navy used the language of the Navajo Indians as the basis of an unbreakable code
