He and his Swiss employer from his job on a ranch near Allen, Oklahoma, went on a cattle-buying trip to Fort Worth. Otis Leader is one of the most notable heroes of WWI. “Twice big group” in Choctaw was used for battalion, “eight group” was a squad, “scalps” were casualties, “fast shooting gun” meant machine gun and “big gun” was field artillery. James Edwards was a member of the Choctaw language “relay team” for messages, and also helped work out the code words to use in the transmissions. After the First World War, Brown became an auditor in the IRS and during WWII was a Deputy State Examiner and Inspector for the State of Oklahoma. He was proud of “fooling the Germans” with the Choctaw language, and was pleased to have served in France.Īccording to his daughter, Napanee Brown Coffman, Victor Brown was one-fourth French and three-quarters Choctaw. Victor Brown received a citation from President Wilson after being wounded and gassed with mustard gas. Stories passed down through families and newspapers share odds and ends of the private lives of some of the Choctaw Code-Talkers. Support and co-sponsorship was requested of all of the Congress The law was signed in 2008 by the President. Senate to award the Choctaws, Comanches and other Indian soldiers who were Code Talkers a Gold Medal. Members of Choctaw and other Tribal Nations also served with distinction using Native languages in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.Īmong these brave warriors were the famed Wind Talkers of the Navajo Tribe in World War II, who were deserving of the Gold Medal they received from Congress in the year 2000. Choctaw Code Talkers of WWI were instrumental in ending war. Many Choctaw men volunteered in WWI to fight for our country. Native Americans did not receive nationwide citizenship until 1924, yet the Choctaws were both patriotic and valiant, with a desire to serve in the war effort. When the Choctaw men were put on the phones and talked in their Native speech, the Germans couldn’t effectively spy on the transmissions. Nineteen Choctaw men have been documented as being the first to use their own language as a “code” to transmit military messages.ĭuring the first world war, with the tapping of the American Army’s phone lines, the Germans were able to learn the location of where the Allied Forces were stationed, as well as where supplies were kept. Training the Choctaws to use their words as “code,” they were placed strategically on front lines and at command posts so that messages could be transmitted without being understood by the enemy. ![]() Some of the Choctaw men were over-heard speaking their Native language in the midst of battlefields in France and an officer immediately had a brainstorm. It has been more than 90 years since the Choctaws of WWI volunteered their service to the United States and joined the Army to travel across the ocean to foreign land. They served, they sacrificed, 19 young Choctaw soldiers were the first to use their native language to confuse the enemy, making a marked difference in the outcome of World War I.
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