Story by Jesse Beckett

Today is Code Talker Day

To keep their plans a secret from the enemy during the fighting in WWII, the US famously employed Native American code talkers who communicated in their native languages. However, WWII was not the first time Native Americans were employed in this critical role. Their combat debut was actually WWI.

Keeping your communications a secret from the enemy is one of the most important tasks during a conflict. If an enemy can listen in to your communications, they can plan ahead and counter any moves you intend to make.

The development of modern computers received a huge boost during WWII when they were used to decrypt enemy-coded messages. In fact, the world’s first programmable, electronic, digital computer was created for this purpose.

Photograph of Choctaw Joseph Oklahombi, a World War I Code Talker, early twentieth century. (Photo by Oklahoma Historical Society/Getty Images)© Provided by War History Online

The government of the Choctaw Nation asserts that the Choctaw were the first Native American code talkers to serve in the US military.

This took place in the 1918 Meuse-Argonne campaign in France. During this battle, the Germans had cracked Allied codes and tapped into their communication lines. Speaking great English, they continuously listened to radio messages. Even sending messages by hand was difficult, as the Germans were capturing on average one in every four runners.

One American officer, Colonel Alfred Wainwright Bloor, devised a clever way to overcome their communicational predicament after overhearing two Choctaw soldiers in his regiment having a conversation in their native language.