By Nate Jones

Staff Writer 

On April 16, applause from students, military veterans, family and local residents rolled through a small lecture hall at Southern Maine Community College’s (SMCC) Hildreth Hall. The accolades were in honor of the 86-year-old Navajo warrior and World War II Marine veteran Chester Nez, one of three remaining members of the Navajo Code Talkers. His unit used the Navajo language to pass tactical and strategic communications for Allied troops during WWII.

With help from his son, Michael Nez, Chester Nez told the story of how he and three other men in his unit aided Allied forces. Communicating battlefield conditions, troop movements and orders the unit spoke a code no Axis intelligence could break: their native  tongue. The lecture was puntuated with excerpts from the 2002 film, “Windtalkers,” starring Nicholas Cage and filmed nearly 60 years after the end of the war. 

Nez served for three years in the Marines in the South Pacific island campaign and was involved in battles on the Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Guam, Marianas and Peleliu islands before he was honorably discharged in 1945.

For many years after the war ended, the government failed to recognize the Navajo soldiers for their part in the war. It wasn’t until 2001 that Chester Nez received the Congressional Gold Medal for his vital service. 

“[Code talking] was top secret stuff,” retired Marine Major David Flores said. “And it was a government effort, which usually takes a while.”

The presentation included a discussion of the Native American culture and its importance in the Nez family. Micheal Nez is also recognized as a Navajo native although he does not speak the native language his father used during the war.

“Some of you might have ancestors in Germany or Ireland. People will ask me, ‘Why don’t you speak your own language,’ and then I ask them the same thing,” Michael Nez said.

Penobscot tribe elder Barbara Running Water of Buxton received a plaque and a piece of Native American jewelry made by Michael Nez for her continued efforts to care for children living in Native American reservations throughout the state. For 15 years Running Water provided food, money, clothing and toys for children in the Penobscot, Micmac, Maliseet and Passamaquoddy reservations.

“She had no idea,” Barbara’s daughter, Dawn Running Water, said. “She was really excited.”

Barbara Running Water founded the Native American Intertribal Foundation, now relocated to Portsmouth, N.H. 

“I do what I have to do for my children and my family,” she said. “You name it, I got it.”

Barbara Running Water said when she began the foundation she helped nearly 200 children. 

Now she said there are close to 2,000 children in each reservation. Like Barbara Running Water, who returns to the reservations every fall, the children adapt to life on and off the reservation.

“I live in two worlds, I know both ways. I let children know who they are and to be very proud of it. Hopefully they can live in peace and get an education someday,” she said. 

Speaking with other tribal elders such as Chester Nez is one of Barbara Running Water’s favorite things to do.

“We were honored to witness such an event,” Dawn Running Water said. “A lot of times there aren’t many favorable things said about Native Americans; it’s just wonderful to see such recognition.”