Code talkers.

[Vida Stabler]

You are kind.  My address is Vida Stabler, Umo^n ho^n Nation Public 
Schoool, Umo^n ho^n Language & Cultural Center, Box
280, Macy, Nebraska 68039
Wibthaho^n , VSS
Rankin, Robert L wrote:
> Dear Mrs. Stabler,
>  
> If you don't have access to an email address that readily accepts attachments, why don't you send me your postal address and I'll just fire off a copy of the Dorsey texts to you on a disk.
>  
> Best,
>  
> Bob R.
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: owner-siouan at lists.colorado.edu on behalf of Vida Stabler
> Sent: Thu 5/1/2008 2:58 PM
> To: siouan at lists.colorado.edu
> Subject: Re: Code talkers.
>
>
>
> Mr. Tom Leonard, sounds like you were really blessed to know these men. 
> Vida
>
> Tom Leonard wrote:
>   
>> FYI -
>>
>> Charles Chibitty, the last survivor of 20 Comanche code talkers who
>> used their native language to transmit messages for the Allies in
>> Europe during World War II died in July 2005. He was 83.
>>
>> "/It's strange, but growing up as a child I was forbidden to speak my
>> native language at school," Chibitty said in 2002. "Later my country
>> asked me to. My language helped win the war and that makes me very
>> proud. Very proud./"
>>
>> I knew Charlie (he lived nearby, here in Tulsa) Forrest Kassanavoid,
>> and a few of the others. They were ALL great guys...real gentlemen. It
>> was a honor to know them and to have the opportunity to visit with them.
>>
>> Some further info here:
>> http://www.comanchelanguage.org/Comanche%20Code%20Talkers.htm
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_talker
>>
>>
>>
>> Rankin, Robert L wrote:
>>     
>>> Interesting.  All this stuff should be collected and the principals interviewed to the extent that it's still possible.  The participants didn't want to talk about it for a long time because it was "classified", but that is no longer the case (although I suppose interviewers should get a letter from the Pentagon saying so).
>>>
>>> Bob
>>>
>>> ________________________________
>>>
>>> From: owner-siouan at lists.colorado.edu on behalf of Justin McBride
>>> Sent: Wed 4/30/2008 11:39 AM
>>> To: siouan at lists.colorado.edu
>>> Subject: Re: Code talkers.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I went to a code talker reception in Oklahoma City a year or two ago. I
>>> heard something I'd never considered before. There have been several
>>> instances in wars past in which two or more fluent tribal language speakers
>>> from the same community happened to be in the same batch of soldiers (unit,
>>> platoon, or whatever). In those cases, speakers were not infrequently called
>>> upon to communicate by way of their shared language, especially in
>>> close-fighting situations where the shouting of tactical orders may have
>>> been overheard by enemy troops that may have knowledge of English. Soldiers
>>> who did this sort of thing weren't code talkers per se, and have never been
>>> recognized for their contributions to the war effort.
>>>
>>> I recently heard that there were a few Kaw "code talkers," and ever since
>>> that reception I've wondered if the designation may have actually referred
>>> to this phenomenon of impromptu tribal language use in combat settings. I
>>> wanted to ask one of those guys who was supposedly such a talker, Houston
>>> Taylor, but he recently passed away. I guess these guys, however heroic,
>>> aren't getting any younger.
>>>
>>> -Justin
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Rankin, Robert L" <rankin at ku.edu>
>>> To: <siouan at lists.colorado.edu>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 9:54 AM
>>> Subject: RE: Code talkers.
>>>
>>>
>>> I'd guess that, over time, the "code(s)" could have been broken.  As several
>>> have said, any language can be reduced to its grammar.  In the case of the
>>> American Indian languages, they were used as tactical codes, not strategic
>>> codes, as far as I know.  The latter are used for diplomatic and general
>>> staff, etc. communications, and it was those that our cryptanalysts had the
>>> best luck with against the Japanese and Germans.  Even if the Japanese had
>>> painfully learned Navajo (or Seminole, Choctaw, Omaha, Comanche, etc.), they
>>> would have had to be able to understand the language spoken rapidly by
>>> native speakers under battlefield conditions.  How many of us could do that
>>> with the Siouan languages we've studied for so many years!?  As an aside, I
>>> don't think the alleged "difficulties" of the Navajo language had much of
>>> anything to do with its success as a code.
>>>
>>> On top of the language there was a fairly simple substitution code with
>>> different words for various military terms, and they would have had to be
>>> decrypted too.  All in all, it was a terrifically efficient system, and the
>>> participants deserve all of the credit that has been bestowed on them,
>>> however belatedly.
>>>
>>> The contribution of the Navajos has become pretty well known, but I think
>>> someone should try to interview any left who were from other tribes -- in
>>> any war.  And, if not them, then their living relatives.  There's definitely
>>> a book to be written there, and who better to write it than someone with
>>> roots in the Native American community or a linguist?
>>>
>>> Bob
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>  
>>>       
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