Chester Nez and biographer Judith Avila (Flickr Photo Courtesy of Fronteras Desk)
The University of Kansas today (MON) honored the last original Navajo code talker from WWII. University officials presented Chester Nez with a degree 60 years after he last attended classes. Nez, now 91, was one of 29 recruits who first developed a military code based on the Navajo language. Local and state officials and members of Haskell Indian Nations University thanked Nez for his service. Danny Anderson is dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at KU.
Nez stopped attending KU when his GI Bill funding ran out in 1952, after three years of study.