Chester Nez - wikipedia Chester Nez Chester Nez Chester Nez during World War II. ( 1921 - 01 - 23 ) January 23, 1921 Chi Chil Tah, New Mexico, U.S. June 4, 2014 ( 2014 - 06 - 04 ) ( aged 93 ) Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S. Cause of death Kidney failure Nationality Navajo Alma mater University of Kansas Known for Being the last surviving original twenty - nine Navajo Code Talkers from World War II. Awards Congressional Gold Medal Chester Nez ( January 23, 1921 -- June 4, 2014 ) was an American veteran of World War II. He was the last original Navajo code talker who served in the United States Marine Corps during the war. Contents 1 Early years 2 Code talker 3 Post-military life 4 Congressional Gold Medal 5 Death 6 References 7 External links Early years Nez was born in Chi Chil Tah, New Mexico, to the Navajo Dibéłizhiní ( Black Sheep Clan ) of the Tsénahabiłnii ( Sleeping Rock People ). He was raised during a time when there were difficult relations between the U.S. government and the Navajo Nation. His mother died when he was only three years old. Nez recalled children often being taken from reservations, sent to boarding schools, and told to not speak the Navajo language. At eight years old, Nez was sent to a school run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. His English given name, Chester, after US president Chester A. Arthur, was assigned then. It was from one of the government - run boarding schools, in Tuba City, Arizona, that Nez was recruited into the Marine Corps. Code Talker Nez kept his decision to enlist from his family and lied about his age to meet enlistment requirements. He and 28 other Navajo formed Recruit Training Platoon 382 at Marine Corps Base San Diego in May 1942. The 29 who graduated from boot camp, including Nez, were then assigned to the Camp Elliot, California, where they were tasked with creating a code for secure voice tactical ( battlefield ) communications. At the time, tactical radios were not equipped, as they are today, with encryption / decryption technology, allowing the enemy to listen to radio traffic, often with disastrous results. The Navajo language was chosen because its syntax and tonal qualities were nearly impossible for a non-Navajo to learn, and it had no written form. Nez stated the developers used everyday words, in order to easily memorize and retain them. In 1942, he was among the code talkers to be shipped out to Guadalcanal, where they worked in teams of two : one to send and receive, the other to operate the radio and listen for errors. Nez also fought in Bougainville, Guam, Angaur and Peleliu. He was honorably discharged as a Private First Class in 1945 and returned to serve stateside in the Korean War from which he was discharged as a corporal. Post-military life At a press conference with Judith Avila. From 1946 to 1952, Nez attended the University of Kansas to study commercial arts, but by 1952 discontinued his studies after having exhausted funding from his G.I. Bill ; he was awarded an honorary bachelor 's degree by the Kansas University College of Liberal Arts and Science on Veterans Day, 2012. Following his military service, he worked as a painter for 25 years at a V.A. hospital in Albuquerque. In 2011, he wrote the memoir Code Talker : The First and Only Memoir by One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII with Judith Avila. Congressional Gold Medal On July 26, 2001, Nez was one of the five living code talkers who received the Congressional Gold Medal from President George W. Bush : Today, we marked a moment of shared history and shared victory. We recall a story that all Americans can celebrate and every American 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. Death Nez died on June 4, 2014, from kidney failure in Albuquerque, aged 93. References ^ Jump up to : Stapleton, AnneClaire ; Carter, Chelsea J. ( June 5, 2014 ). `` Chester Nez, last of original Navajo code talkers of World War II, dies ''. CNN. Retrieved June 5, 2014. ^ Jump up to : Ramsey, Nick ( June 4, 2014 ). `` Chester Nez, last of the original WWII Navajo Code Talkers, dies ''. MSNBC. Retrieved June 5, 2014. ^ Jump up to : Smith, Noel Lyn ( June 4, 2014 ). `` Chester Nez, last of the original Navajo Code Talkers, has died ''. Daily Times ( Farmington, New Mexico ). Archived from the original on June 6, 2014. Retrieved June 5, 2014. Jump up ^ Fox, Margalit ( June 5, 2014 ). `` Chester Nez, 93, Dies ; Navajo Words Washed From Mouth Helped Win War ''. New York Times. Retrieved October 11, 2015. ^ Jump up to : Tibbetts, Meredith ( November 15, 2013 ). `` Navajo Code Talker Chester Nez : Telling a tale of bravery and ingenuity ''. Stars and Stripes. Retrieved June 5, 2014. Jump up ^ `` Book Discussion Code Talker ''. Retrieved May 29, 2016. Jump up ^ `` College of Liberal Arts & Sciences to present diploma to Navajo code talker - KU News ''. ku.edu. Jump up ^ Fonseca, Felicia. `` Last of original group of WWII Navajo Code Talkers dies ''. Journal Star. Associated Press. Jump up ^ `` Remarks on Presenting the Congressional Gold Medal to Navajo Code Talkers ''. Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents. Government Printing Office. 37 ( 30 ). July 30, 2001. Archived from the original on February 16, 2015. Retrieved October 11, 2015. Jump up ^ Shelly, Ben ( June 4, 2014 ). `` President Shelly orders flags at half - staff in honor of Chester Nez ''. navajopresident.org. Retrieved June 5, 2014. External links Marine Corps Heroes : Pvt. Chester Nez Navajo Code Talkers : The Uncrackable Language, featuring Chester Nez Native Americans and World War II People Van T. Barfoot Jerry C. Begay Samuel Nathan Blatchford Pappy Boyington John Brown Jr. Charles Chibitty Ernest Childers Thomas Claw Ernest E. Evans Edmond Harjo Roy W. Harmon Ira Hayes Gilbert Horn Sr. Philip Johnston Allen Dale June Joe Hosteen Kellwood Joe Kieyoomia Jeff King Peter MacDonald Jack C. Montgomery Joe Morris Sr. Chester Nez Lloyd Oliver Willard Varnell Oliver John N. Reese Jr. Merril Sandoval Frank Tsosie Thompson Frank Chee Willeto Tribes Apache Blackfeet Cherokee Chitimacha Choctaw Comanche Hopi Iroquois Lakota Menominee Meskwaki Muscogee Navajo Ojibwe Akimel O'odham Tohono O'odham Osage Pawnee Potawatomi Seminole Shoshone Engagements 1st Philippines Solomon Islands New Guinea Aleutian Islands Gilbert and Marshall Islands Marianas and Palau Islands Normandy 2nd Philippines The Bulge Volcano and Ryukyu Islands Nagasaki See also Apache Scouts Arizona during World War II Castner 's Cutthroats Choctaw code talkers Code talkers Eskimo Scouts Great Papago Escape Machita incident Military history of the United States during World War II New Mexico during World War II New Mexico during World War II People Jack Aeby Jerry C. Begay John J. Dempsey Thomas Farrell Enrico Fermi Leslie Groves John E. Miles Chester Nez Lloyd Oliver Willard Varnell Oliver J. Robert Oppenheimer Merril Sandoval Emilio G. Segrè Frank Tsosie Thompson Military installations Alamogordo Army Airfield Camp Lordsburg Clovis Army Airfield Carlsbad Army Airfield Deming Army Airfield Fort Stanton Fort Sumner Army Aifield Hobbs Army Airfield Kirtland Field Los Alamos National Laboratory Roswell Army Airfield White Sands Proving Ground See also 200th Coast Artillery American Theater Arizona during World War II Bat bomb Code talker Escape from Fort Stanton Lordsburg Killings Manhattan Project Military history of the United States during World War II Nevada during World War II New Mexico World War II Army Airfields Santa Fe Riot Trinity VIAF : 171706462 LCCN : n2011039471 ISNI : 0000 0001 2068 9675 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chester_Nez&oldid=815391197 '' Categories : 1921 births 2014 deaths Navajo code talkers American Marine Corps personnel of World War II United States Marines Congressional Gold Medal recipients People from Albuquerque, New Mexico People from McKinley County, New Mexico University of Kansas alumni Writers from New Mexico Deaths from renal failure American Marine Corps personnel of the Korean War Hidden categories : Articles with hCards Articles containing Navajo - language text Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Français Magyar Simple English 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 14 December 2017, at 15 : 29. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: when did the last navajo code talker die
Answer: June 4, 2014