In 2002 World War II Navajo "Code Talkers" became famous.  A Hollywoord movie called Windtalkers made these unsung heroes, well, Heroes.  Of the original platoon of 29 Navajo boys taken from their reservations by the Marine Corps, only one survives today.

His name is Chester Nez and his story is fascinating.  Chester lived on a reservation in New Mexico.  When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, the U.S. military started looking for a code they could use not easily detected by the enemy.  For the untrained ear, the Navajo language is tough to read, say and translate, making it the perfect solution in war. 

Code talkers like Chester were picked because they were smart and knew English, a must to be able to translate to their military leaders in English.  This original platoon created the code and made each letter of the alphabet (shown below) a Navajo animal name.  They also gave common military terms like "general" and "tank" code words.

These days 90 year old Nez has fuzzy memories of his time during World War II, but he is rightfully proud of what he and the other 500+ code talkers did to help their country.  You can read a fantastic and detailed story about him, written by the Arizona Republic's Betty Reid, here.  (picture source: toddandbarbara.blogspot.com)