Legislation introduced to honor Choctaw Codetalkers (fwd)

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Legislation introduced to honor Choctaw Codetalkers
Officials worry that pioneers of the practice are not getting their due

Sam Lewin 5/24/2005
http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=6500

Picture the term: Codetalkers.

What comes to mind? For many the word has to do with members of the
Navajo Nation baffling the Japanese during World War 2. It's a mental
association that has been fed by written media accounts and a major
Hollywood film a few years back.

Problem is, while the Navajo Codetalkers were certainly noteworthy and
made valuable contributions, it was soldiers from the Choctaw Nation of
Oklahoma that originated the concept. Eighteen Choctaws stymied the
Germans during World War 1 by using their Native language to transmit
messages to U.S soldiers.

Now Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., has introduced a measure that would give
a congressional medal to the Choctaw Codetalkers, as well as members of
the Sioux and Sac & Fox Tribes.

"Code talkers from the Choctaw, Comanche and other tribes are true
American heroes whose accomplishments have too long been forgotten,"
Inhofe said in a statement. "Their service on the front lines helped
propel the allied forces to victory and saved countless lives in the
process."

According to the Byron County Heritage Quarterly, in the closing days of
World War I, fourteen Choctaw Indian men in the Army's Thirty-Sixth
Division, trained to use their language, helped U.S. forces win several
key battles in France.

The fourteen Choctaw CodeTalkers were Albert Billy, Mitchell Bobb,
Victor Brown, Ben Caterby, James Edwards, Tobias Frazer, Ben Hampton,
Solomon Louis, Pete Maytubby, Jeff Nelson, Joseph Oklahombi, Robert
Taylor, Calvin Wilson, and Walter Veach.

All are now deceased.

According to the quarterly: The Choctaws were recognized as the first to
use their native language as an unbreakable code in World War I. The
Choctaw language was again used in World War II. Choctaws conversed in
their language over field radios to coordinate military positions,
giving exact details and locations without fear of German interception.

It was a routine conversation between two of the Choctaws, Lewis and
Bobb, which began the codetalker experiment. A ranking officer happened
to hear the two men conversing in Choctaw and came up with the idea to
use the language to foil the enemy. Bobb used a field telephone to
deliver a message to Caterby, who then translated it into English for
the Battalion commander.

The rest is history.

One reason that Choctaws did not receive recognition for their
trailblazing success is because many of their contributions were
classified as secret until years after the war ended.

The first public recognition of their efforts appears to be during the
annual Choctaw Labor Day Festival in 1986, when then-Choctaw Chief
Hollis E. Roberts presented posthumous Choctaw Nation Medals of Valor
to the families of the CodeTalkers.

On November 3, 1989, in recognition of the role the Choctaw CodeTalkers
played during World War I, the French government presented Roberts with
the "Chevalier de L'Ordre National du Merite" (the Knight of the
National Order of Merit), the highest honor France can bestow.

Presently, Inhofe is not the only one with an interest in the
contributions of the Choctaws.

Students at Southeast Webster High School in Burnside, Iowa recently
took up the history of Choctaw Codetalkers, creating a display
featuring facts about their exploits.

"You can see the difference they made," student Alonzo Barkley told the
Iowa Messenger. "You can just look at the events of the war when we
used code talkers versus not having them. You can see the difference
they made. You just look at the events of the war when we used code
talkers versus not having them."