The story of the Mongolian mare, who, despite only measuring about thirteen hands high, became an American hero for her actions during the Korean War, being awarded two Purple Hearts for her valor and being officially promoted to staff sergeant twice, a distinction never bestowed upon an animal before or since.

Although more than 400 Navajos served in the military during World War II as top-secret code talkers, even those fighting shoulder to shoulder with them were not told of their covert function. And, after the war, the Navajos were forbidden to speak of their service until 1968, when the code was finally declassified. Of the original twenty- nine Navajo code talkers, only two are still alive. Chester Nez is one of them. In this memoir, the eighty-nine-year-old...