Code Talkers in Europe

[jacobtowne]

Last WWII Comanche Code Talker Visits Pentagon, Arlington Cemetery

Visit the DoD “American Indian Heritage Month” web site at www.defenselink.mil/specials/nativeam02/.

By Rudi Williams
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8, 2002 - After meeting with the defense secretary and other top Pentagon officials on Nov. 5, Charles Chibitty, the last surviving World War II Comanche code talker, donned his feathered Indian chief’s headdress and offered a prayer in the Pentagon Chapel for those killed in the terrorist attack on the building.

The aging code talker then placed a wreath and offered an Indian prayer at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington (Va.) National Cemetery. This marks the third time the 81-year old war veteran was honored at the Pentagon for his service to the nation. His visits in 1992 and 1999 were also in November during National American Indian Heritage Month.

While meeting at the Pentagon with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Undersecretary of the Army Les Brownlee and Raymond F. DuBois Jr., deputy undersecretary of defense for installations and environment, Chibitty recounted his wartime experiences when his unit landed on the Normandy shores on “the first or second day after D-Day.” After his unit hit Utah Beach, his first radio message was sent to another codetalker on an incoming boat. Translated into English, it said: “Five miles to the right of the designated area and five miles inland, the fighting is fierce and we need help.”

“We were trying to let them know where we were so they wouldn’t lob no shells on us,” he explained with a chuckle. “I was with the 22nd Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division. We talked Indian and sent messages when need be. It was quicker to use telephones and radios to send messages because Morse code had to be decoded and the Germans could decode them. We used telephones and radios to talk Indian then wrote it in English and gave it to the commanding officer.”

Chibitty said two Comanches were assigned to each of the 4th Infantry Division’s three regiments. They sent coded messages from the front line to division headquarters, where other Comanches decoded the messages.

He said 20 Comanches signed up to be code talkers, but only 17 went to training at Fort Benning, Ga., and only 14 hit Utah Beach at Normandy. “None of us was killed, but two were wounded pretty badly; one was my cousin,” Chibitty noted.

Brownlee asked him if he was hit and Chibitty said, “Heck, no. I was like a prairie dog. As soon as I heard a whistle, I’d dive in that hole. I was little then. I weighed 126 pounds and it didn’t take long for me to dig my hole. My buddy weighed 240 pounds and some of them were more than six feet tall and they had to dig a long trench.”

Speaking in the Comanche language, Chibitty gave Brownlee another example of a message code talkers sent to other units, then translated it for him: “A turtle is coming down the hedgerow. Get that stovepipe and shoot him.”

“A turtle was a tank and a stovepipe was a bazooka,” he explained. “We couldn’t say tank or bazooka in Comanche, so we had to substitute something else. A turtle has a hard shell, so it was a tank.”

Since there was no Comanche word for machine gun it became “sewing machine,” Chibitty noted, “because of the noise the sewing machine made when my mother was sewing.” Hitler, he said, was “posah-tai-vo,” or “crazy white man.”

There are no other words in his language to describe a bomber aircraft, so they said, "Daddy and I went fishing and we cut that catfish open and he’s full of eggs. Well, that bomber was up there just like this catfish, it’s full of eggs, too, so we called it a pregnant airplane.

“We got so we could send any message, word for word, letter for letter,” Chibitty said. "The Navajos did the same thing in the Pacific during World War II and the Choctaw used their language during World War I. There were other code talkers from other tribes, but if they didn’t train like the Comanche and Navajos, how could they send a message like we did? If they made a slight mistake, instead of saving lives, it could have cost a lot of lives.

In 1989, the French government honored the Comanche code talkers, including Chibitty , by presenting them the “Chevalier of the National Order of Merit.” Chibitty has also received a special proclamation from the governor of Oklahoma. In 2001, Congress passed legislation authorizing the presentation of gold medals to Native Americans who served as code talkers during foreign conflicts.

“I felt I was doing something that the military wanted us to do and we did to the best of our ability, not only to save lives, but to confuse the enemy by talking in the Comanche language,” he said. “We felt we were doing something that could help win the war.”

Brownlee asked him if the Comanche language is written and Chibitty said, “There’s a book, but you’ve got to be awfully damn smart to read it. It’s not like alphabets, you have to learn the phonetics to pronounce the words.” The aging code talker then sang Silent Night in the Comanche language.

Chibitty said when he attended Indian school in the 1920s, teachers became angry with him because he was speaking the Comanche language. “When we got caught talking Indian, we got punished,” he noted. “I told my cousin that they’re trying to make little white boys out of us,” he said.

After joining the Army years later, he told his cousin, “They tried to make us quit talking Indian in school, now they want us to talk Indian.”

The retired glazier visits schools to tell the youngsters about what code talkers did and how they did it. He said officials at Comanche headquarters near Lawton, Okla., are trying to preserve the language by teaching it to children.

“The service you and your buddies provided turned out to be invaluable,” Brownleee told the aging veteran. “You had this way of speaking that nobody could translate. The way you used your language was of such great advantage to your country.”

Before returning home to Tulsa, Okla., Chibitty spent some time with researchers at the U.S. Army Center for Military History for oral history sessions. The Army wants to preserve the history of the Comanche code talkers and Chibitty is the last one to tell the story from first-hand experience.

Ed. Chibitty died in 2005.

JT

[Francesca1973]

Thank you for this thread, Jacobtowne. I knew about the Navaho Code talkers, but not the Comanche. I found this article at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jul2005/20050729_2278.html:

Last World War II Comanche Code Talker Laid to Rest
By Rudi Williams
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, July 29, 2005 – When Charles “Charlie” J. Chibitty, the last World War II Comanche code talker, was buried July 26, a friend wrote in the eulogy, “Charlie’s life has no foreshadowing or ending. As long as wind blows, his life and legacy will continue to twist and turn along courses only wild horses know.”

Charles Chibitty, the last surviving World War II Comanche code talker, told Pentagon officials that teachers at the Indian school near Lawton, Okla., became angry with him for speaking the Comanche language in the early 1920s, then the Army wanted Comanches to use their language as a code during World War II. Photo by Rudi Williams

Chibitty died July 20 in Tulsa, Okla. He was 83. He was invited to the Pentagon three times – in 1992, 1999 and 2002 – in honor of his service to the nation as a World War II code talker. He, along with 16 other Comanche Indians, was part of an Army company of code talkers who befuddled the Germans during the invasion of the beaches of Normandy, France.

During his 2002 Pentagon visit, Chibitty said his unit hit Utah Beach in Normandy “the first or second day after D-Day.” His first radio message was sent to another code talker on an incoming boat. Translated into English, it said: “Five miles to the right of the designated area and five miles inland, the fighting is fierce and we need help.”

“We were trying to let them know where we were so they wouldn’t lob no shells on us,” he explained with a chuckle. “I was with the 22nd Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division. We talked Indian and sent messages when need be. It was quicker to use telephones and radios to send messages, because Morse code had to be decoded and the Germans could decode them. We used telephones and radios to talk Indian, then wrote it in English and gave it to the commanding officer.”

The Comanche Indians frustrated enemy code breakers by translating Army messages into their native language. The enemy never broke the code.

Chibitty enlisted in the Army in January 1941. He earned the World War II Victory Medal, European Theater of Operations Victory Medal with five bronze stars, Europe-African Middle East Campaign Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. In 1989, the French government honored the Comanche code talkers by presenting them the Chavalier of the National Order of Merit.

He was presented the Knowlton Award, created by the Military Intelligence Association, in 1995 to recognize significant contributions to military efforts. In April 2003, Chibitty attended the dedication ceremony for a monument to Choctaw and Comanche code talkers of World War I and World War II at Camp Beuregard in Pineville, La., where he trained during World War II. When he visited the Pentagon in 1992, then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney presented him a certificate of appreciation for his service to the country. Chibitty also received a special proclamation from the governor of Oklahoma, who honored him for his contributions to that state and the nation.

When Chibitty visited the Pentagon in November 2002, he donned his feathered Indian chief’s headgear and offered a prayer in the Pentagon Chapel for those killed in the terrorist attack on the building. The aging World War II code talker then went to nearby Arlington National Cemetery and placed a wreath and offered an Indian prayer at the Tomb of the Unknowns. His 2002 visit included a meeting with Defense SecretaryDonald H. Rumsfeld. Before returning home to Tulsa, Chibitty spent some time with researchers at the U.S. Army Center for Military History for oral history sessions.

“Laying the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns really meant a lot to him,” Chibitty’s adopted daughter, Carrie V. Wilson of Fayetteville, Ariz., said during a telephone interview.

“When he talked about his code talking days, he always said he wished that all the other code talkers could have gotten the awards, attention and recognition that he did,” said Wilson, a cultural resource consultant. "But by the time they really recognized the Comanche code talkers, most of them were dead.

“He never thought about any of the awards without thinking about all the others who had gone before him,” Wilson noted. Pointing out that Chibitty was a traditional Comanche speaker, Wilson said his death is a huge loss to the Comanche community. “He tried to teach Comanche to whomever showed an interest in it,” she noted.

“He was a big powwow Indian, and he took me into his family more than 35 years ago,” said Wilson, a Quapaw Indian, who is a former Miss Indian Oklahoma and a Quapaw tribal princess. “He adopted me, and put his daughter’s clothes on me, and took me out to a big powwow in Tulsa. He told everybody that he gave me permission to wear Comanche clothes because he’d taken me into his family as his daughter.”

Wilson said she has many fond memories of Chibitty, including going to powwow dances with him and his brother. Both of them were nationally known for their Indian championship dancing. “When he and his brother and other Comanches came out onto the dance floor, they looked like royalty,” she said. "They were always recognized in the Indian community as championship dancers.

“We’d laugh and tease, and he was always fun to be around,” Wilson said. "But an important thing is that he was always there for anyone who needed help, whether they had problems with drinking or just needed someone to talk to. He was always available to listen to them and give advice, or be a friend.

“Every night before he went to bed, he’d sit on the edge of his bed and pray,” she noted. “He was a very sincere person. He knew what war was about and how precious life is. And, he believed that education is one of the most important things.”

Chibitty’s son, a promising attorney, was killed in a car accident in 1982, and his daughter died about 10 years later, Wilson said. “After that, his wife died,” she noted. “So my role as a daughter became more real. Before his wife died, she told me to take care of him - I tried.”

In addition to Wilson, Chibitty is survived by two grandsons, Chebon Chibitty and Acey Chibitty, and another adopted daughter, Lacey Chibitty, who reside in Tulsa. He also leaves behind a number of nieces and nephews.

Musical tributes included the Kricket Rhoads Connywerdy, Comanche Sovo drum, Comanche hymns at the graveside. Chibitty was given full military honors, including a 21-gun salute by the Fort Sill Honor Team.

“They sang the Comanche code talkers’ song, which is a beautiful song, as they were putting him into the ground,” Wilson said. The Comanche Indian Veterans Association, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 577, American Legion Post 1, Masonic Rights and Millennium Lodge 543 attended his funeral.

[Pro-Kit]

Page 264 of Jonathan Gawne’s Spearheading D-Day has a page devoted to the Comanche Code Talkers, retyped here for your reading pleasure:

The activities of the Marine Corps Navaho Code Talkers in the Pacific have been well documented. A unit of Native American signalmen also took part in the Normandy Invasion, but their story remains almost unknown.

Although many historians have theorized how the Comanche Code Talkers may have been used at Normandy, it was thought that their use was so secret that records of the unit would never be found. The truth is actually much simpler, it may come as a surprise that the Comanche Code Talkers were never the classified unit some have made them out to be.

The origins of the Comanche Code Talkers are unclear. It seems that during the First World War there had been attempts to use Native Americans to send messages over field telephone lines. The Germans had developed sophisticated listening equipment and could eavesdrop on Allied telephone lines. American Indian languages were difficult to both speak and understand unless one was raised in the correct tribe. Many of the dialects were unlike any other language spoken and few, if any, outsiders could comprehend them. After WWI, it seems that a few German language students took a particular interest in learning Native American Tongues, but the Indians refused to instruct them. It was fairly clear this interest had more to do with military intelligence than linguistics.

Although the use of Indian languages in WWI has not been fully documented, it seems that someone in the 4th Infantry Division in 1941 had known about it, and thought it might be good to try again.

Lt. Hugh F. Foster, a brand-new second Lieutenant out of West Point, was given the job a developing the use of the Comanche language in the 4th Infantry Division Signal Company. Foster was able to locate 17 Comanche speakers in the Division and they were transferred to the 4th Signal Company. At the time no one had heard of the Navaho Code Talkers the U.S. Marines were training.

Many of the military terms that would be needed had no matching word in the Comanche language. For months the men discussed substitute words they could use. The word turtle would stand for tank. Bird meant an airplane, and pregnant bird stood for a bomber. For words that needed to be spelled out, such as the name of towns, a strange phonetic alphabet was used. The Comanches would first say a word meaning “I am spelling,” then use Comanche words of which the first letter of their English meaning would spell out what was needed. Finally another word was used to indicate “I am no longer spelling.” Eventually a military vocabulary of about 250 words was developed.

What is unusual about the Comanche Code Talkers is that these men had normal Signal Corps duties to perform in addition to working on the code. They had to put in their shifts as switchboard operators or telephone wiremen. Many of them were in Lt. Foster’s wire platoon. One of the stranger tasks they had was to string telephone wire between the various radio stations in the unit. The radio operators needed to use telephones to help get their early pattern radios tuned to the same frequencies.

Out of 17 Comanches trained, only 14 or 15 went overseas with the Signal Company. All 15 served in the 4th Infantry Division. The plan called for teams of two Comanches to be available at divisional and regimental signal units in case a message had to be sent in code. Although not kept a strict secret, the use of the Comanche language was not publicized before the 4th went overseas. Lt. Foster was sent to a special radar school and eventually commanded all radar instillations along the North African Coast. He stayed in the Army and eventually commanded the 1st Signal Brigade in Vietnam.

On D-Day
A team of Code talkers landed with the first waves of the 8th Inf. Regt. At Utah Beach. The first message sent back to 4th Division HQ stated “Red beach, wrong place.” The Comanches continued to serve throughout the ETO with the 4th Division in dual roles as regular signalmen and specialist code talkers when needed.

In 1989 the Comanche Code Talkers were officially recognized for their contributions by the French Government. Lt. Foster (now a retired General) was made an honorary member of the Comanche tribe with the name “Poo-hee-wee-tek-wha Eksa-bahn” meaning “Telephone Soldier.” It was the closest the Comanche language could come to “Signal officer.”

[1PUK]

Never even new about Navaho Code talkers till the movie, let alone Comanche.

Thanks for the posts.

Marek