Choctaw Nation Honors Code Talkers Who Helped Turn the Tide in WWI

In 1917, a Choctaw Indian named Joseph Oklahombi walked 21 miles from his home in Wright City, Oklahoma, to Idabel, the McCurtain County seat, to enlist in the U.S. Army.

Oklahombi enlisted at a time when most Native Americans were not considered U.S. citizens—that didn’t happen until the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.

The U.S. government wanted him to forget his history, his culture, and his native language, but that didn’t prevent him from fighting for his homeland in World War I.

Shortly after he enlisted, Oklahombi and 19 other Choctaw men became part of an effort that used their language to help win the war for the Allies.

They became code talkers—Native American soldiers who used tribal languages to confound enemy intelligence.