What Is The Significance Of The Choctaw Code Talker Of Ww1

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Regimental Commander Colonel Alfred W. Bloor, "Get them and stand by, I've got an idea that just might get these [Germans] off our backs." Lawrence told Bobb and Louis, "I'm going to give you a message to call in to headquarters. I want you to give them a message in your language. There will be somebody there who can understand it”. The first message to translate and relay was given to Mitchell Bobb, who used the field telephone to deliver the first Choctaw coded message to fellow Choctaw Ben Carterby, who then translated it back into English for the battalion commander on the other end. Within a matter of hours, the location of the original eight Choctaw men had been shifted until there was at least one in each field Company Headquarters.” …show more content…

Shortly after the US started using Choctaw Code Talkers the Germans started retreating. Code Talkers helped with many victories in WWI and they paved a way for future Code Talkers. After WWI many of the military personnel was unsure whether they should continue with the language because Japan had sent over students to learn the Native American languages. Because of this, new ideas were looked for so that they did not have to worry about the Japanese. During WWII the navy had to think of a new code to use. In 1942, Philip Johnston was the son of a missionary, he was reading a newspaper article about an armored division in Louisiana that was trying to come up with a code using Native American languages. He knew a language that would be an unbreakable code. This idea was to use the Navajo language for secure communications. As a child he grew up on a Navajo reservation with his missionary parents. He learned the language and customs growing up. He ended up knowing the language so well that he was asked as an interpreter for a Navajo delegation for Indian rights. He was one of the few non-Navajos that could speak their language …show more content…

In 1942, Johnston met with Major General Clayton B. Vogel, the commanding general of Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet, and his staff to convince them of the Navajo language's value as a code. He staged tests under combat conditions, to demonstrate that the Navajos could encode, transmit, and in 20 seconds decode a three-line English message. During that time, it took a message 30 minutes to do the same thing. The General was so convinced that he recommended that the Marines recruit two hundred Navajos. “Some of the Navajo teens that were approached by Marine Corps recruiters were still at an age where parental consent for military service was needed. Because many of the parents could not read or write English, they dipped their thumbs in ink and stamped approval for their children to serve.” (Kowal) The first group of Indians recruited was about 30 people, they were all shipped to boot camp and they took courses in military communication procedures. At Camp Pendleton, Oceanside, California, this group created the code. When they were in training everything had to be memorized. Once training was completed they were sent to a Marine unit deployed in the Pacific