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Chester Nez and the unbreakable code

by Joseph Bruchac, Joseph Bruchac, Liz Amini-Holmes

Cover of Chester Nez and the unbreakable code
Popularity 8

As a young Navajo boy, Chester Nez had to leave the reservation and attend boarding school, where he was taught that his native language and culture were useless. But Chester refused to give up his heritage. Years later, during World War II, Chester and other Navajo men like him was recruited by the US Marines to use the Navajo language to create an unbreakable military code. Suddenly the language he had been told to forget was needed to fight a war.

CryptographyNavajo IndiansNavajo code talkersIndian ParticipationAmerican Personal narrativesWorld War, 1939-1945MarinesBiographyChildren's fictionIndians of north america, navajo indians, fictionMilitary historyUnited states, history, 20th century, juvenile literature