Choctaw code talkers were a group of Choctaw Indians from Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...

 who pioneered the use of Native American languages as military code. Their exploits took place during the waning days of . The government of the Choctaw Nation maintains these men comprised the first code talkers ever to serve in the U.S. military.

Origin of code talking

Code talking, the practice of using complex Native American languages for use as military code by American armed forces, got its start during .

German forces proved to be masterful breakers of American military code, and were believed by U.S. army officers, generally accurately, to be intercepting and decoding every code in use.

An American officer, Colonel A.W. Bloor, noticed a number of American Indians serving with him in the 142nd Infantry in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. Overhearing two Choctaw Indians speaking with one another, he devised a plan. With the active cooperation of his Choctaw soldiers, he tested and deployed an innovative experiment, using the Choctaw language in place of regular military code.

The first combat test took place on October 26, 1918 when Colonel Bloor ordered a "delicate" withdrawal of two companies of the 2nd Battalion, from Chufilly to Chardeny

Chardeny

Chardeny is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France....

. The movement was successful.

"The enemy's complete surprise is evidence that he could not decipher the messages", Bloor observed. A captured German officer confirmed they were "completely confused by the Indian language and gained no benefit whatsoever" from their wiretaps.

Full use of the Choctaw language as military code involved speaking the language by telephone

Telephone

The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...

. Choctaws were placed in each company of soldiers to send or transmit it. Runners were also employed to extend the system as necessary.

Colonel Bloor, in a post-war memo, expressed his pleasure and satisfaction. "We were confident the possibilities of the telephone had been obtained without its hazards", he noted. He noted, however, that the Choctaw tongue, by itself, was unable to fully express the military terminology then in use.

No Choctaw word or phrase existed to describe "machine gun", as example. The Choctaws improvised successfully, using their words for "big gun" to describe "artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

" and "little gun shoot fast" for "machine gun

Machine gun

A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....

". "The results were very gratifying," Bloor concluded.

The Code Talkers

The men who made up the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

' first code talkers were either full-blood or mixed-blood Choctaw Indians.

All were born in the Choctaw Nation

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma

The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma is a semi-autonomous Native American homeland comprising twelve tribal districts. The Choctaw Nation maintains a special relationship with both the United States and Oklahoma governments...

 of the Indian Territory

Indian Territory

The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...

, in what is now southeastern Oklahoma, during the time their nation was a self-governed republic. They were schooled in the nation's neighborhood schools, and some attended its most prestigious academies.

The nineteen known code talkers are as follows:

1. Albert Billy (1885–1958). Billy, a full blood Choctaw, was born at Howe, San Bois County, Choctaw Nation, in the Indian Territory. He was a member of the 36th Division, Company E.
2. Mitchell Bobb (January 7, 1895). Bobb's place of birth was Rufe, Indian Territory Rufe, Oklahoma
   Rufe, Oklahoma
   Rufe is a community in western McCurtain County, Oklahoma, 10 miles northwest of Wright City, Oklahoma.A United States Post Office was established at Rufe, Indian Territory on February 13, 1903. It was named for Rufus Wilson, son of Mattie Wilson, first postmaster...
   
    in the Choctaw Nation, his date of death is unknown. He was a member of the 142nd Infantry, Company E.
3. Victor Brown (1896–1966). Brown was born at Goodwater, Kiamitia County
   Kiamitia County
   Kiamitia County, also known as Kiamichi County, was a political subdivision of the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory. The county formed part of the nation’s Pushmataha District, or Third District, one of three administrative super-regions....
   
   , Choctaw Nation.
4. Ben Carterby (December 11, 1891 – 1953). Carterby was a full blood Choctaw roll number 2045 born in Ida, Choctaw County, Oklahoma.
5. Benjamin Franklin Colbert
6. George Edwin Davenport
7. Joseph Harvey Davenport
8. James (Jimpson M.) Edwards (1898–1962). Edwards was born at Golden, Nashoba County
   Nashoba County, Indian Territory
   Nashoba County was a political subdivision of the Choctaw Nation in the Indian Territory. The county formed part of the nation’s Apukshunnubbee District, or Second District, one of three administrative super-regions....
   
   , Choctaw Nation in the Indian Territory. He was a member of the 142nd Infantry, Company E.
9. Tobias W. Frazier (1892–1975). (A full blood Choctaw roll number 1823) Frazier was born in Cedar County
   Cedar County, Choctaw Nation
   Cedar County was a political subdivision of the Choctaw Nation in the Indian Territory. The county formed part of the nation’s Apukshunnubbee District, or Second District, one of three administrative super-regions....
   
   , Choctaw Nation. He was a member of the 142nd Infantry, Company E.
10. Benjamin Wilburn Hampton (a full blood Choctaw roll number 10617) born May 31, 1892 in Bennington, Blue County, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, now Bryan County, Oklahoma
    Bryan County, Oklahoma
    Bryan County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 36,534 at the 2000 census. Its county seat is Durant. The county shares the same boundaries as the Durant Micropolitan Area. It is also home to the headquarters of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma located in Durant...
    
    . He was a member of the 142nd Infantry, Company E.
11. Noel Johnson
12. Otis Wilson Leader (a Choctaw by blood roll number 13606) was born March 6, 1882 in what is today Atoka County, Oklahoma. He died March 26, 1961 and is buried in the Coalgate Cemetery.
13. Solomon Bond Louis (April 22, 1898 – February 15, 1972). Louis, a full blood Choctaw, was born at Hochatown, Eagle County, Choctaw Nation, in the Indian Territory. He was a member of the 142nd Infantry, Company E. He died in Bennington, Bryan County, Oklahoma in 1972.
14. Pete Maytubby was born Peter P. Maytubby (a full blood Chickasaw roll number 4685) on September 26, 1892 in Reagan, Indian Territory now located in Johnston County, Oklahoma. Pete was a member of the 142nd Infantry, Company E. He died in 1964 and is buried at the Tishomingo City Cemetery in Tishomingo, Oklahoma.
15. Jeff Nelson (unknown). He was a member of the 142nd Infantry, Company E.
16. Joseph Oklahombi (May 1, 1894–1960). Oklahombi – whose surname in the Choctaw language means man killer – was born at Bokchito, Nashoba County
    Nashoba County, Indian Territory
    Nashoba County was a political subdivision of the Choctaw Nation in the Indian Territory. The county formed part of the nation’s Apukshunnubbee District, or Second District, one of three administrative super-regions....
    
    , Choctaw Nation in the Indian Territory. He was a member of the 143rd Infantry, Headquarters Company. Oklahombi is Oklahoma's more decorated war hero, and his medals are on display in the Oklahoma Historical Society in Oklahoma City.
17. Robert Taylor (a full blood Choctaw roll number 916) was born January 13, 1894 in Idabel, McCurtain County, Oklahoma (based on his registration for the military in 1917). He was a member of the 142nd Infantry, Company E.
18. Charles Walter Veach (May 18, 1884 – October 13, 1966). Veach was from Durant, OK (Blue County I.T.) and Captain of Company E.,142nd Infantry. He was Captain of the Oklahoma National Guard unit that was mustered into Company E. 142nd Infantry at Ft. Bowie, TX.
19. Calvin Wilson Calvin was born June 25, 1894 at Eagletown, Eagle County, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. He was a member of the 142nd Infantry, Company E. His date of death is unknown. Wilson's name is misspelled in military records as "Cabin."

Additional Choctaw soldiers may have contributed to the effort, although records in this regard do not explicitly confirm it. Tobias Frazier, as example, often referred to a Choctaw Code Talker whose surname was Simpson, from Moyers, Oklahoma

Moyers, Oklahoma

- History :A permanent settlement has existed at the site of modern Moyers since at least the 1880s.During the 1880s the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway, more popularly known as the “Frisco”, built a line from north to south through the Choctaw Nation, connecting Fort Smith, Arkansas with Paris,...

. Additional names have surfaced from time to time, and if true would expand the Choctaw Code Talkers from fourteen confirmed men to as many as eighteen.

Belated recognition

Little was said or written of the code talkers after World War I. The earliest known mention of them in the media appears to have been 1928, when an Oklahoma City newspaper described their unusual activities.

The Choctaw Code Talkers themselves appear not to have referred to themselves as such. The phrase was not coined until during or after World War II. In describing their wartime activities to family members, at least one member of the group, Tobias W. Frazier

Tobias W. Frazier

Tobias William Frazier, Sr. was a full-blood Choctaw Indian who was a member of the famous fourteen Choctaw Code Talkers. The Code Talkers pioneered the use of American Indian languages as military code during war. Their initial exploits took place during World War I, and were repeated by Native...

, always used the phrase, "talking on the radio", by which he meant field telephone

Field telephone

Field telephones are mobile telephones intended for military use, designed to withstand wartime conditions. They can draw power from their own battery, from a telephone exchange , or from an external power source. Some need no battery, being sound-powered telephones.Field telephones were first used...

.

During recent decades Hollywood has "discovered" code talkers, but not the Choctaw code talkers. Navajo

Navajo people

The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...

 code talkers during World War II became the subject of movies, documentaries, and books. The Navajo, with their history of opposing the United States in war, has proven in almost all respects a more popular subject than the quiet, orderly, agrarian Choctaw Indians, who adopted an American-style constitution and government, complete with elections and separation of powers, in the early 19th century.

The Choctaw government awarded the code talkers posthumous Choctaw Medals of Valor at a special ceremony in 1986. France followed suit in 1989, awarding them the Fifth Republic's Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Merite

Ordre National du Mérite

The Ordre national du Mérite is an Order of State awarded by the President of the French Republic. It was founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle...

 (Knight of the National Order of Merit).

In 1995 the Choctaw War Memorial was erected at the Choctaw Capitol Building

Choctaw Capitol Building

The Choctaw Capitol Building is a historic site in Pushmataha County, Oklahoma two miles north of Tuskahoma, Oklahoma. The Choctaw National Council House is located here, as well as the Old Town Cemetery of Tuskahoma....

 in Tuskahoma, Oklahoma

Tuskahoma, Oklahoma

Tuskahoma is a community in northern Pushmataha County, Oklahoma, four miles east of Clayton, Oklahoma.-History:A United States Post Office was established at Tushka Homma, Indian Territory on February 27, 1884. On October 28, 1891, the spelling changed to Tushkahomma. On December 6, 1910 the...

. It includes a huge section of granite dedicated to the Choctaw Code Talkers.

Further reading

• Bloor, Colonel A.W. "Transmitting Messages in Choctaw." Memo to Captain Spence for the Commanding General, 36th Division, U.S. Army. January 23, 1919. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
• Chastaine, Captain Ben F. Story of the 36th. Oklahoma City: Harlow Publishing Company, 1920.
• Meadows, William C. Comanche Code Talkers of World War II. College Station: University of Texas Press, 2003.