INDIAN
CODETALKERS
In the 1940s, William Karty, a
Comanche, was working at
Fort Cobb when a war broke out
in Europe. He knew that he
could help his country in a
different way. That way was his
native language. How could a
language help win a war?
Let’s read the story of
Oklahoma’s Indian Codetalkers.
Some of the early voluntary
soldiers was a group of
Comanche Indians from Lawton. They were selected for a special duty in the U.S. Army.
That is because they could speak both English and Comanche.
They were called the “codetalkers.” They sent messages in their native language on the Army
radios. The enemy couldn’t understand it. They had never heard Comanche! This saved many
soldiers’ lives. The enemy could not understand what the Army was planning to do or where
the Army was going.
The Comanche “code” was never broken. (A “code” is a secret way of sending a message.
Some codes can be hand signals. Some can be jumbled letters. Some can even be a different
language, like Comanche.)
But that wasn’t the first time that Oklahoma’s Native Americans used language to help their
country. Just a few years earlier, a group of Choctaw soldiers used their language to help
America win the first World War in Europe! After the wars were over, the U.S. Army presented
a special award to Oklahoma’s Indian Codetalkers.
1. What tribes from Oklahoma served as codetalkers?
2. How did the codetalkers work to help their country?
3. In what ways can students help their country or its soldiers?
Courtesy Oklahoma Council for Social Studies