belated: Last Comanche Code Talker Passes

Published on August 7, 2005 By pseudosoldier In Current Events

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Found this while perusing the 1AUG Army Times.

"Charles Chibitty, the last survivor of the Comanche code talkers who used their native language to transmit messages for the Allies in Europe during World War II, has died. He was 83." -- Army Times

' "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. " ' -- Army Times

' "I wonder what the hell Hitler thought when he heard those strange voices," he once told a gathering. '
...and...
' "We could never do it again," Chibitty told Oklahoma Today. "It's all electronic and video in war now." '
-- Army Times

It makes me proud to think that Americans, regardless of ethnicity or background, were able to contribute to a noble effort. It makes me even prouder to think that they were able to take their unique skills and put them to good use. Yes, we could never use Native American speakers during war again; there aren't nearly enough of them left. We might also not need to, as our electronic encryption of signals would make it an unnecessary redundancy, although I've heard of some Spanish speaking Americans who seem to defy the operational language of the Army in the name of signals security. But with what we needed at the time, it is that amazing American "can-do-ness" that we seem to continually attempt to recapture that these great men provided us.

He was a Comanche, he was a soldier, he was a Native American, he was an American.

Comments

greywar

on Aug 07, 2005

I would say that this deserves front-page recognition belated or not.

Dr Guy

on Aug 07, 2005

I agree with Greywar. But I thought all the code talkers were Navaho. Or are the Commanches a subset of Navaho?

Thanks for the reminder.

pseudosoldier

on Aug 07, 2005

I was wondering if someone wouldn't catch that part, actually. The Najavo were operational in the Pacific theater, while the Comanche were active in Europe. I think the Comanche weren't used as much, and the Navajo are much more "popularized," but both groups did roughly the same job as far as I can tell.

"Navajo code talkers took part in every assault the U.S. Marines conducted in the Pacific from 1942 to 1945." Link

"The Comanche Code Talkers were an elite group of young men who were fluent in the Comanche language and used that knowledge, along with the training they were given by the United States Army, to send critical messages that confused the enemy during World War II. Seventeen young men were trained in communications, but only fourteen were deployed to the European theater." Link

Dr Guy

on Aug 08, 2005

Reply By: pseudosoldier

Thank you for the information. I actually had never heard of the European Comanche program, just the Pacific Navaho one.

pseudosoldier

on Aug 09, 2005

I guess they're just much less talked about, yet no less valorous, it would seem. Perhaps it's because there were less of them? For whatever reason, the Navajo had/have better press...

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