by Chester Nez
Marine Corps Chevron
Marine Corps Recruitment Center in San Diego
Marines (U.S.)
abandoning ship drills
age requirements of
basic training
cadence, counting
camaraderie
close-order drills
code talkers and
communications school
cultural vs. physical challenges
dropping out
equipment issued to
food during basic training
German Shepherds and
“getting tough” test
hand-to-hand combat
heads shaved
hitting corporal incident
“jar-heads,”
Marine Corps MOS (Military Occupational Specialty)
marksmanship of
night-landing practice
obstacle course
Platoon 382,
points system for going home
prayers encouraged by
recruits
segregation of soldiers
shouting
survival training
swimming
trust in Navajos
uniforms
women in
Marines (cont.)
See also Begay, Roy (code talker); casualties; code talkers (Navajo code); First Marine Division; Guadalcanal; Nez, Chester (code talker); Second Marine Division; Third Marine Division; Tsinajnnie, Francis (code talker)
Massacre, Great Livestock
matriarchal society, Navajos
matrons, boarding school
McCabe, William (code talker)
McClain, Sally
McDonald, Peter
medicine bags
medicines used in sweat lodge
“medicine” vs. “mouth,”
Melbourne, Australia
Merrill (Admiral)
MGM Studios
Michelangelo
“Midnight Charlie,”
military terms and Navajo code
milking ewes and goats
“million-dollar” wounds
Mix, Tom
Model T Ford truck
monkeys
monsters roaming the earth
Morgan, Jake
Morse code
mortars
mosquitoes
Nagasaki, Japan
Nakagawa, Kunio (Colonel)
naming livestock
Nanking, China
narratives. See stories (great)
National Geographic
National Park Service
Native Americans
alcohol not served to Indians
citizenship of U.S. and
identification card required for
petroglyphs
vote, right to
World War I, using languages
See also Navajo culture; Navajo language
Navajo, The (Kluckhorn and Leighton)
Navajo Code Talkers (Aaseng)
Navajo Code Talkers Dictionary
Navajo culture
allegiance declaration by Navajo Tribal Council
“allotments,”
all things should be respected
animals vs. money
ash, importance of
bears as relatives
boy babies
burials
clan affiliations
clothing of
community sense
compass points and
corn pollen, importance of
dead, avoiding
Diné (“the People”)
discipline
dry (sand) paintings
east-facing doorway
education program promises to
evil people as coyotes
expansion for reservation
eye contact and
facial hair
“49-er” party
fry bread
ghost of deceased (chindí)
girl babies as highly valued
graves
humor of
incest
index finger pointing and
marriage
matriarchal society
medicine bags
mourning
mutton
oral tradition of
owls as signs of trouble
physical bodies of
public-works jobs for
sheep as wealth
smoking
snowbanks for toughing children
social gatherings
spiritual bodies of
“squash blossom” necklaces
stepping over someone and
suffering in silence
time marked by seasons
“trader,”
“walking in beauty,”
warrior tradition of
witchcraft belief
wool preparation
See also Nez, Chester; stories (great)
Navajo culture, ceremonies
Bad Way ceremony
Blessing Way
coming-of-age ceremony
Enemy Way ceremony
Good Way ceremony
hand-trembler
Holy Way ceremony
medicine men
morning blessings
pot drum
“putting up” a sing
Right Way (Good Life)
sing ceremonies
Squaw Dance
Navajo language
aspirated stops
complexity
dialect differences
glottal stops
hearing language difficulty
learning in infancy
modulated voices
painting pictures with
pronunciation of
tonal language
unwritten language
verbs
See also code talkers (Navajo code)
Navajo Nation (Navajo Reservation)
Navajo National Park
Navajo Tribal Council
Navajo Tribal Fair
Navajo Weapon (McClain)
Navy (U.S.)
Bougainville
corpsmen (“docs”)
Guadalcanal
Korean War
Marines vs.
Pearl Harbor attack by Japan
Seabees
“swab jockies,”
Navy Crosses
New Caledonia
New Deal
New Guinea
New Mexico
“New Mexico” tag
New York Yankees
Nez (“very long” or “very tall”)
Nez, Chester (childhood and youth)
Betoli (“light complexion”)
Checkerboard, New Mexico
“chips” (money of trading post)
clothing
food, scarcity of
friends, livestock
gratitude for boarding school
joining the Marines, decision
public school
shearing sheep
sheepherding
slingshots
“string game,”
“summerhouse,”
sweat lodge
toys
trading post
See also boarding school; Navajo culture
Nez, Chester (code talker)
Angaur
baptism, killing fields
Nez, (cont.)
basic training
Bougainville
flying, first time
Guam
guard duty
Iwo Jima
outperforming white peers
Peleliu
points system for going home
promotion to corporal
reading letters out loud
Reserves and
sharpshooter (pistol) qualification
shooting man vs. coyote
volunteering for Marines
“wide open,” liking
See
also Begay, Roy (code talker); code talkers (Navajo code); Guadalcanal; Marines (U.S.); Nez, Chester (postmilitary life); Tsinajnnie, Francis (code talker)
Nez, Chester (family)
Albert “Chubby” (Chester’s son)
Black Sheep clan (Dibé-lizhiní or DibétXizhiní)
Charlie Gray (Chester’s brother)
children and
Coolidge (Chester’s brother)
death of children
death of Mother (Shimá)
divorce from Ethel
Emery (Chester’s great-grandson)
Ethel Pearl Catron (Chester’s wife)
Georgann (Chester’s first daughter)
Grandfather
Great-Grandmother
Korean War and
Latham (Chester’s grandson)
Michael (Chester’s grandson)
Michael (Chester’s son)
Mother (Shimá)
New Caledonia
Old Auntie (Chester’s aunt)
Ray (Chester’s son)
Rita (Chester’s daughter-in-law)
Shawnia (Chester’s granddaughter)
Stanley (Chester’s son)
telling family about enlistment
Tyah Chester “TC” (Chester’s adopted son)
Uncle
wedding and white man’s work
Young Auntie
See also Father (Chester’s father); Grandmother (Chester’s grandmother); Nez, Dora (Chester’s sister)
Nez, Chester (personal)
appearance of
basketball and
bells, comfort from
blackouts
boxing career of
Chichiltah (“Among the Oak Trees”)
civil servant incident
concentration skills of
death, never forgetting
devastation, feeling sick from
diabetes
football and
friendships
home memories, comfort from
humidity, trouble with
landscapes
memories of war and
ocean, seeing for first time
painting skills of
prayers by
proud, making family
secrecy of code talker and
serving country vs. heroism
singing and
soft-spoken man
wounds of
Ye’ii mural painted by
Nez, Chester (postmilitary life)
artist education
Bad Way ceremony
blessing the Red Sox by
celebrations for
celebrity of
deer hunting
Enemy Way ceremony
Good Way ceremony
Haskell Indian Nations University, Kansas
high school diploma
Holy Way ceremony
homecoming
hunting
interviews of
legacy
leg left amputation
nightmares about war
saluting President Bush
“scalp” of Japanese for Bad Way ceremony
speaking engagements by
TV show appearances
University of Kansas
Veterans’ Administration Hospital, Albuquerque
war experiences impact on
white man’s world and
Ye’ii mural painted by
Nez, Dora (Chester’s sister)
boarding school
Checkerboard and
Chester’s children and
death of
Great Livestock Massacre
helped by Chester
hogan, building Grandmother’s
homecoming (Chester’s)
letters to/from Chester
sheepherding
stories (great)
Nez, Jack (code talker)
Nez Valley
night attacks by Japanese
nightmares about war
Nimitz, Chester W. (Admiral)
Nixon, Richard (President)
“no longer available” (ádin)
North (náhokos)
North Island Headquarters
North Korea
Notah, Roy (code talker)
Noumea Bay
O (ne-ahs-jah)
Oka (Colonel)
Oklahoma City
“old mother, the” (Shimásánì). See Grandmother (Chester’s grandmother)
Olive-drab.com
Oliver, Lloyd (code talker)
Operation Cartwheel
Operation Forager
Operation Stalemate
Operation Watchtower/Operation Shoestring
oral tradition of Navajos See also stories (great)
“original” code talkers
Orote Peninsula
ouu (yes)
overgrazing
Pacific Ocean Areas command
Padaock, Lawrence
Palau Islands
Palmer, Joe (Balmer Slowtalker) (code talker)
Palmer, Kermit
Patch, Alexander (General)
Peleliu
Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
“People, The” (Diné)
Pete, Frank (code talker)
Philippines
“picking up” an object
Pima people
piñons
pistols
Platoon 382,
Pocatello, Idaho
“Point, The,”
Point Cruz
points system for going home
porcupine meat
practicing Navajo code
Price, Wilson (code talker)
Pueblo tribe
Puller, “Chesty” (Colonel)
R (gah)
Rabaul, New Britain
radios (TBX radios)
Bougainville
Guam
Marine recruits and
New Caledonia
Peleliu
rattlesnake killing incident
Red Cross
“reduction,” livestock
Reeves, Dolph (Sergeant)
religion, boarding school
Richard, Freddie
rifles
Right Way (Good Life)
“Rock of Ages,”
“roger and out,”
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (President)
Ross, Mrs.
runners (spotters)
Rupertus, William H. (Field Commander General)
Ruth, Babe
Sac tribe
safe area bounded by four sacred mountains
Saipan
Salt people
San Diego, California
San Francisco Naval Hospital, California
Seabees
seasickness
Second Marine Division
Guadalcanal
See also Begay, Roy (code talker); Marines (U.S.); Nez, Chester (code talker)
secrecy of Navajo code
semaphore
semper fi (“always faithful”)
September 11 terrorist attacks
Shackle vs. Navajo code
Shanghai, China
sheep as wealth See also Great Livestock Massacre
sheepherding, Checkerboard
Shimásánì. See Grandmother (Chester’s grandmother)
ship vs. land positions
Shirley, Joe
Shizhé’ é. See Father (Chester’s father)
showering
sing ceremonies
“singer” (hataathlii)
Singer, Tommy (code talker)
Sioux tribe
Sixth Marine Regiment
60 Minutes (TV show)
“slant-eye” (beh-na-ali-tsosie)
Sledge, E. B.
Sleeping Rock people
Slop Chute, San Francisco
Slot, The (“Ironbottom Sound”)
Slowtalker, Balmer (Joe Palmer) (code talker)
Smith, Holland (General)
snafu (situation normal, all fucked up)
Solomon Islands
South (shádi’ ááh)
South Korea
South Pacific dominance by Japan
South Pacific strategy of U.S.
South Pacific voyage to Guadalcanal
Spam
speaking engagements by Chester
spotters (runners)
Spruance (Admiral)
Squaw Dance
St. Michaels Catholic Church, Arizona
“Star-Spangled Banner,”
Stephenson, L. J. (Sergeant)
stories (great)
bows and arrows
Changing Woman
code talkers
Coyote the trickster
creation of the world
Diné (Navajo Nation)
First Man and First Woman
“glittering fourth world,”
Great Livestock Massacre
Holy People
lightning bolts as weapons
Long Walk
monsters roaming the earth
prayers for leaving safe area
safe area bounded by four sacred mountains
Sun
underworlds
white settlers, fighting
See also Navajo culture
Strumm, George
submachine guns
success of Navajo code
Sugar Ridge
suicide attackers (Banzai)
sulfa drugs
Sumner (Colonel)
Sun
Suribachi, Mount
sweat lodge
Takashina, Takeshi (Lieutenant General)
“tall man, the” (D’ent Nez) See also Father (Chester’s father)
Tassafaronga Point
TBX radios. See radios
teeth brushing with soap
TennoX heika banzai
testing Navajo code
Thinkquest.org
Third Marine Division
Angaur
Bougainville
Guadalcanal
Guam
Iwo Jima
Peleliu
See also Begay, Roy (code talker); Marines (U.S.); Nez, Chester (code talker); Tsinajnnie, Francis (code talker)
Thompson, Nelson (code talker)
Thorpe, Jim
“Thundering Mexican, The,”
Tinian
Tiyan airfield
tkele-cho-gi (J, “jackass”)
Today (TV show)
Tohatchi School, New Mexico
Tokyo, Japan
“Tokyo Night Express, The,”
Tokyo Rose
Toll, Roger
Topeka, Kansas
“transport plane” (atsah)
transport ships
Tsinajnnie, Francis (code talker)
Angaur
Bougainville
Guadalcanal
Guam
Iwo Jima
Peleliu
Tsingtao, China
Tsosie, Harry (code talker)
Tuba City School, Arizona
tuberculosis
Tumon Bay
Turner, R. K. “Terrible” (Rear Admiral)
Two Wells Trading Post in Gallup
Umurbrogol Mountain (“Bloody Nose Ridge”)
unbreakable code. See code talkers (Navajo code)
underground systems built by Japan
Underhill, James L. (Colonel)
underworlds
United States of America
Air Force (U.S.)
Army (U.S.)
censorship of mail to/from military by