ePhoto courtesy of Oklahoma Historical Society [source]
Choctaw Code Talkers
Joining the War In 1917, the US entered into World War I and men from around the country were mustered into service. The 142nd Infantry Regiment began as the 7th Infantry Regiment, Texas National Guard, then joined with the 1st Oklahoma Infantry Regiment to create the 142nd. The unit trained at Camp Bowie and was sent overseas in May of 1918. At this point, the war was far from won, especially since the Germans kept breaking the Allied codes.
A New Tool Many of the men who came from Oklahoma were Native Americans, particularly from the Choctaw Nation. One day, Colonel Alfred Bloor overheard two of the men speaking Choctaw and realized that if he couldn’t understand them, how much more confused would the Germans be? With the Choctaw soldiers’ support, he set about training Choctaw Code Talkers. For the most part, the code talkers used very little code, since the Choctaw language was code enough. They did create code words for some things that the Choctaw language had no word for, such as “twice big group” for a battalion and “fast shooting gun” for a machine gun. The Choctaw Code Talkers did all this despite the fact that none of these men would be given the rights of citizens until 1924. Not to mention the fact that their children were being beaten in boarding schools for speaking the language that was helping win the war.
A Successful Test On October 16, 1918, Bloor began the first combat test of the Choctaw Code Talkers. He used them to cover a delicate withdrawal of two companies of men which was completed successfully. A couple of days later, the Code Talkers were used heavily in an attack on Forest Ferme and the Germans were completely baffled, allowing the Allies to turn the tide of the battle. The Choctaw Code Talkers continued training, but with the end of the war only a month later, they never really got to use the codes they had devised, though they did lay the foundation for the heavy use of Native American Code Talkers in World War II. Altogether, 19 Choctaw men trained as Code Talkers. Though men from other nations used their native languages to confuse the Germans, only the Choctaw trained and created codes to do so in a systematic way, earning them the distinction of being the first Native American Code Talkers.
Delayed Recognition The Choctaw Code Talkers have never earned the recognition that the Navajo Code Talkers would later receive in World War II. There were small write-ups in local newspapers about their unusual service after their return and in 1986, the Choctaw Nation honored them with Choctaw Medals of Valor, with France honoring them similarly shortly thereafter. It was until 2008 that these men were honored by the US Government, along with all the other Native Code Talkers, with Congressional Gold Medals.
