The first use of Native Americans as code-talkers was in WWI. The Germans were intercepting and decoding Army messages. An officer overheard two Choctaw Indians talking in their language and had an idea. They and several other Choctaw were assigned to deliver messages in their language. Machine gun became “little gun shoots fast” and casualties became “scalps”. When the successful, but the war ended several weeks later. In 1941, with U.S. entry approaching, the Army recalled the experiment and assigned 17 Comanche recruits to Fort Benning, Georgia to develop a code based on their language. Machine gun was “sewing machine” and bomber was “pregnant airplane”. Hitler was called ‘posah-tai-vo” which meant “crazy white man”. The code-talkers landed at Normandy and performed a valuable service in Europe. Meanwhile, the Marines were approached by Philip Johnston, a city engineer in Los Angeles. He had Navajo friends and he suggested putting them to use in communications. A demonstration for a general was a success and the Marines recruited Navajo Indians and sent them to Camp Pendleton for special training. They developed a dictionary of over 400 words including “birds” for planes, “buzzard” for bomber, and “eggs” for bombs. They first served on After this, they were assigned bodyguards. It is a myth that the bodyguards were told to kill their Indian to keep them from being captured and giving away the code. A total of 420 Navajo code-talkers were used in the Pacific and they contributed to the victory. They were especially valuable on the island of Iwo Jima. Recognition was slow in coming. In 2001, all the Navajo were given Congressional Gold Medals. It was not until the Code Talkers Recognition Act of 2008 that the Choctaw and Comanche were honored.
Uncle Salutes the Armed Forces 150-153
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