It was here that Nez met the other two surviving original Code Talkers: Lloyd Oliver and Allen Dale June. "Using Navajo words for red soil, war chief, clan, braided hair, beads, ant and hummingbird, for example, they came up with a glossary of more than 200 terms, later expanded, and an alphabet."
They weren't sure if the code would work. The Japanese did everything they could to break it but never did. Nez no longer remembers the whole thing, but he does remember one instruction he gave at Guadalcanal, "Enemy machine gun on your right flank, destroy!" Each message read was immediately destroyed.
Once, while running a message, Nez said he and his partner were mistaken for Japanese soldiers and were threatened at gunpoint until an officer cleared up the confusion.
He also remembers a close call in Guam when a Japanese sniper bullet whizzed by his head and struck a palm tree.
More to Come. --Cooter
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