Chester Nez, 93, Dies, last surviving member of the 29 original Navajo code talkers

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http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/06/us/chester-nez-dies-at-93-his-native-tongue-helped-to-win-a-war-of-words.html?_r=0

 

Chester Nez, 93, Dies; Navajo Words Washed From Mouth Helped Win War

 

 

To the end of his life, Chester Nez recalled the first message he sent over the radio while serving at Guadalcanal: “Enemy machine gun nest on your right. Destroy.”

 

Receiving the message, American forces eliminated the threat.

 

Mr. Nez, a former United States Marine who died on Wednesday at 93, had sent the message not in English but rather in a code he had helped create. It originally went much like this: “Anaai (Enemy) naatsosi (Japanese) beeldooh alhaa dildoni (machine gun) nishnaajigo nahdikadgo (on your right flank). Diiltaah (Destroy).”

 

The code was fashioned from Navajo, the language that Mr. Nez grew up speaking, was later barred from speaking and still later helped craft into a military code so impervious that it helped the United States secure victory in the Pacific in the summer of 1945.

 

Mr. Nez was the last surviving member of the 29 original Navajo code talkers, who at the urgent behest of the federal government devised an encrypted version of their language for wartime use. They and the hundreds of Navajos who followed them into battle used that code, with unparalleled success, throughout the Pacific theater

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Heaven Has One More Marine

 

 Upon this earth I served with pride
 I fought for the red, white and blue
 There were many days I was not home
 But I always returned home to you

 When Heaven needed a Marine
 I dutifully answered God’s call,
 Semper Fidelis, “always Faithful”
Marines together - one and all.

 There are no wars in Heaven
 No pain or suffering
 We gather together as Marines
 Just to hear the angels sing

 I am serving in God’s Marine Corps
 I am proud, for Him I strive
 To serve His Holy Kingdom
 In Christ, I am alive.

 

Note:  Author of poem is debatable.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldiers_poem