Living History

As we celebrate Veterans Day on November 11, students and staff across C-FB ISD honor the men and women who have served and are currently serving our country.

Some of our students had the remarkable opportunity to hear from the last living original Navajo Code Talkers, Chester Nez. On Oct. 13, R. L. Turner High School welcomed the last remaining Navajo Code Talker from World War II, Chester Nez. Nez explained to the students that he was one of the original 29 Navajo young men recruited in the U.S. Military’s top secret program.

The Code Talkers used the unique Navajo language to create a code for the U.S. Military to get messages to soldiers in battle. Throughout the war, no attempts by the Japanese government were successful at cracking the code. The program remained top secret until it was declassified in 1968. Until that time, Nez and the other Code Talkers were unable to tell their families what they had done during the war. Nez’s story has now been published in the book, Code Talker: The first and only memoir by one of the original Navajo code talkers.

Mr. Nez is a real-life history and character lesson of bravery, intelligence and problem-solving. High achievement in C-FB ISD is just not about scoring well on a state test. It is more than that. It is about providing our students with a rich learning environment to develop valuable knowledge and skills as they prepare to become contributing members of our society. That is the ultimate measure of high achievement.

In C-FB, we pride ourselves on instilling character in our students. One of the young men or women who heard Mr. Nez speak could be the very individual responsible making changing history like Mr. Nez and his fellow Code Talkers.

We invite you to come to one of our Veterans Day celebrations to experience learning in action in our schools.

Check out the photos from some of the Veterans Day activities across the district:

• R. L. Turner Hosts Veterans Day Celebration 
• Field Middle School Celebrates Veterans Day

Information regarding remaining Veterans Day activities:

• Nov. 12 , 2:00 p.m. , Blalack Middle School Gym: There will be a Salute to Veterans and members of the Armed Services, Police and Fire Dept. 
• Nov. 12 , 5:30-7:30 p.m. , Landry Elementary: There will be an art show and a choir concert, the choir will sing Veterans Day songs. Afterwards, parents and children can enjoy a dance in the gym with concessions to buy. This is a PTA event. 
• Nov. 13 , 6:30 p.m. , Bush Middle School Cafeteria: Orchestra and Choir Program honoring Veterans 

Local news affiliate, CBS 11, visited Turner to interview Mr. Nez. The video can be viewed on their website here.