New Caledonia: October to Early November 1942
- Chester is on a ship: the USS Lurline. He's standing with a couple of his Navajo Marine buddies looking out at the water.
- The next day they dock in Hawaii, but only officers are granted shore leave and Navajo Marines and everyone else have to stay on board the ship. A lot of the Marines are really seasick—they've never been on a ship before and they have a long journey ahead of them.
- In Hawaii, a new contingent of Marine recruits boards.
- The ship leaves Hawaii, and after about a week, Chester and the other Marines start to get over their seasickness.
- Thank goodness for that; they've barely been able to hold anything down since boarding the ship.
- The ten code talkers on the ship constantly practice their code, but they keep it secret from the other Marines, because they've been instructed by their superiors not to tell a soul.
- Finally, the Marines arrive at Grand Terre in New Caledonia. On shore, the ten code talkers on Chester's ship reunite with the other code talkers who arrive on different vessels. Thirty of the thirty-two men who were involved with developing the Navajo code have been sent to war in the fall and winter of 1942.
- The Marines do more combat training on Grand Terre. They practice abandoning ship and also do night landing and hand-to-hand combat exercises.
- At night, Chester and his partner Roy sleep in a foxhole.
- By October 1942, Chester and his buddies feel ready to go. The code is engraved in their brains. Thirteen of the code talkers, including Chester and Roy, receive orders: they'll be joining members of the 1st Marine Division, which has already been deployed to re-capture Guadalcanal, in the battle for the island.
- Can we get a drum roll here? It's about to begin.