How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
[O]n weekends we were free. Not tied to duties like sheepherding, we spent our leisure time exploring San Diego […] Many of my Navajo buddies had never tried beer, or any alcohol, before. (10.31)
Chester and the other code talkers become friends not only through their work developing the code, but also through having fun together. Getting drunk together is a tried and tested method for becoming friends with people quickly.
Quote #2
Lowell Damon was a real nice guy, my best buddy […] I always wished he could have accompanied Roy Begay and me when we went overseas together. (10.54)
Chester remembers Lowell Damon as his "best buddy" from his time in Camp Elliott in San Diego. But Chester can't pick and choose which friends he takes with him abroad. That's military life: he can't always have it his way.
Quote #3
They were all good men, and it makes me feel nostalgic, thinking about those guys, my buddies. (10.55)
Chester's words here make us see that the code talkers he worked with weren't just his fellow Marines, they were his "buddies," his friends.
Quote #4
In general, we ten code talkers on the ship stayed close, talking Navajo and practicing—always practicing—the new code. (11.15)
The code is the link that ties the Navajo Marines together. Through practicing it, the code talkers stay "close" to one another. And they become close too.
Quote #5
Through Marine boot camp, followed by the serious job of designing and memorizing the code, we men forged a real bond. (11.21)
What's the quickest way to make friends? Go through boot camp and develop a top-secret military code with a bunch of strangers. That'll do it.
Quote #6
I liked knowing Roy was there. Partnering with my roommate from Tuba City was good, when everything else was so foreign. (11.41)
It's sure a good thing to have a friend with us when we're stuck in a foxhole on an obscure island in the middle of the Pacific. Chester and Roy go way back, and here we get a sense of how Chester draws strength from his friendship with Roy.
Quote #7
Roy and I whispered in Navajo, joking with each other, trying to stay awake. (12.77)
This is a little moment in which we see Chester and Roy supporting each other in the middle of war. Nothing like a good joke to let off some steam.
Quote #8
We code talkers waved good-bye to the friends we had made in the 1st Marine Division—some of whom were best buddies—and tried to prepare ourselves mentally to forge new bonds as the war continued. (13.39)
The code talkers are sad to see the men of the 1st Marine Division leave. Here we see that part of the difficulty of the war for Chester and the other code talkers is having to let go of old friends.
Quote #9
We four men—Francis and I working in tandem, and Roy Begay and Roy Notah doing the same—became a team. (13.1)
Even though Francis and Roy Notah join Chester and Roy Begay later in the war, they're accepted into the fold. The two old friends make room for their two new code-talking buddies. This shows us how the code talkers are really good at embracing one another.
Quote #10
It took quite a while before we were able to feel at home with our new cohorts […] We missed the closeness we'd had with the officers and men of the 1st Marine Division. I wasn't wise enough, then, in the ways of war to know that the next campaign would bring us close to our new fighting partners. (13.7)
Chester's comments suggest how war makes friends out of people. When our lives are on the line, and we have to depend on our buddies to look out for us, we become close to them very quickly.