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Code talker

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Judoka735 (talk | contribs) at 22:44, 27 November 2017 (→Navajo code talkers: Despite numerous source links, this entire section is actually an almost verbatim copying of George D. Johnson's 2011 book "Profiles in Hue". It needs to be rewritten to not be in violation of copyright.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

An accepted version of this page, accepted on 27 November 2017, was based on this revision.
"Codetalkers" redirects here. For the band, see The Codetalkers.
For the Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain character, see list of characters in the Metal Gear series § Code Talker.

Choctaw soldiers in training in World War I for coded radio and telephone transmissions

Code talkers are people in the 20th century who used obscure languages as a means of secret communication during wartime. The term is now usually associated with the United States soldiers during the world wars who used their knowledge of Native American languages as a basis to transmit coded messages. In particular, there were approximately 400–500 Native Americans in the United States Marine Corps whose primary job was the transmission of secret tactical messages. Code talkers transmitted these messages over military telephone or radio communications nets using formal or informally developed codes built upon their native languages. Their service improved the speed of encryption of communications at both ends in front line operations during World War II.

The name code talkers is strongly associated with bilingual Navajo speakers specially recruited during World War II by the Marines to serve in their standard communications units in the Pacific Theater. Code talking, however, was pioneered by Cherokee and Choctaw Indians during World War I.

Other Native American code talkers were deployed by the United States Army during World War II, including Lakota,[1] Meskwaki, and Comanche soldiers. Soldiers of Basque ancestry were also used for code talking by the U.S. Marines during World War II in areas where other Basque speakers were not expected to be operating.

Assiniboine code talkers

Members of the Assiniboine served as code talkers during World War II, utilizing the Assiniboine language to encrypt communications.[2] The code talkers included Gilbert Horn Sr., who grew up in the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation of Montana and later became a tribal judge and politician.[2]

Basque code talkers

In November 1952, Euzko Deya magazine [3] reported that in May 1942, upon meeting about 60 U.S. Marines of Basque ancestry in a San Francisco camp, Captain Frank D. Carranza conceived the idea of using the Basque language for codes.[4][5] [6] His superiors were wary as there were known settlements of Basque in the Pacific region. There were 35 Basque Jesuits in Hiroshima, led by Pedro Arrupe. In China and the Philippines, there was a colony of Basque jai alai players, and there were Basque supporters of Falange in Asia. The American Basque code talkers were kept away from these theaters; they were initially used in tests and in transmitting logistic information for Hawaii and Australia.

According to Euzko Deya, on August 1, 1942, Lieutenants Nemesio Aguirre, Fernández Bakaicoa and Juanana received a Basque-coded message from San Diego for Admiral Chester Nimitz, warning him of the upcoming Operation Apple to remove the Japanese from the Solomon Islands. They also translated the start date, August 7, for the attack on Guadalcanal. As the war extended over the Pacific, there was a shortage of Basque speakers and the US military came to prefer the parallel program based on the use of Navajo speakers.

In 2017, Pedro Oiarzabal and Guillermo Tabernilla published a study [7] refuting Euzko Deya's article.[8] According to Oiarzabal and Tabernilla, they could not find Carranza, Aguirre, Fernández Bakaicoa or Juanana in the NARA or US Army archives. They find a small number of US Marines with Basque surnames, none of them in transmissions. They suggest that Carranza's story was an OSS operation to raise sympathy for the US intelligence among Basque nationalists.

Cherokee code talkers

The first known use of Native Americans in the American military to transmit messages under fire was a group of Cherokee troops used by the American 30th Infantry Division serving alongside the British during the Second Battle of the Somme. According to the Division Signal Officer, this took place in September 1918. Their unit was under British command at the time.[9]

Choctaw code talkers

Main article: Choctaw code talkers

During World War I, company commander Captain Lawrence of the U.S. Army overheard Solomon Louis and Mitchell Bobb conversing in the Choctaw language. He found eight Choctaw men in the battalion.[10] Eventually, fourteen Choctaw men in the Army's 36th Infantry Division trained to use their language in code. They helped the American Expeditionary Forces win several key battles in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France, during the final large German push of the war. Within 24 hours of the Choctaw language being pressed into service, the tide of the battle had turned. In less than 72 hours, the Germans were retreating and the Allies were in full attack.[10] These soldiers are now known as the Choctaw code talkers.

Comanche code talkers

Comanche code-talkers of the 4th Signal Company (U.S. Army Signal Center and Ft. Gordon)
Hugh F. Foster Jr.'s Comanche codebook

Adolf Hitler knew about the successful use of code talkers during World War I. He sent a team of some thirty anthropologists to the United States to learn Native American languages before the outbreak of World War II.[11] It proved too difficult for them to learn the many languages and dialects that existed. Because of Nazi German anthropologists' efforts to learn the languages, the U.S. Army did not implement a large-scale code talker program in the European Theater of the war. Fourteen Comanche code talkers did take part in the Invasion of Normandy, and continued to serve in the 4th Infantry Division during additional European operations.[12] Comanche of the 4th Signal Company compiled a vocabulary of over 100 code terms using words or phrases in their own language. Using a substitution method similar to the Navajo, the Comanche code word for tank was "turtle", bomber was "pregnant airplane", machine gun was "sewing machine" and Adolf Hitler was referred to as "crazy white man".[13] Two Comanche code-talkers were assigned to each regiment, the rest to 4th Infantry Division headquarters. Shortly after landing on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944, the Comanche began transmitting messages. Some were wounded but none killed.[13]

In 1989, the French government awarded the Comanche code-talkers the Chevalier of the National Order of Merit. On November 30, 1999, the United States Department of Defense presented Charles Chibitty with the Knowlton Award.[13][14]

Cree code talkers

In the World War II, native Cree speakers were used as code talkers for the Canadian Armed Forces. Due to oaths of secrecy, and official classification through 1963, the role of Cree speakers has gone unacknowledged by the Canadian government.[15] A 2015 documentary, Cree Code Talkers, tells the story of one such Métis individual, Charles "Checker" Tomkins, who died in 2003.[16]

Meskwaki code talkers

Meskwaki men used their language against the Germans while fighting in the US Army in North Africa. 27 out of then 168 Meskwaki in Iowa enlisted in the U.S. Army together in January 1941.[17]

Alphabets (English) Code Language (English) Code Language (Navajo) Modern spelling
A Ant Wol-la-chee Wóláchííʼ
B Bear Shush Shash
C Cat Moasi Mósí
D Deer Be Bįįh
E Elk Dzeh Dzeeh
F Fox Ma-e Mąʼii
G Goat Klizzie Tłʼízí
H Horse Lin Łį́į́ʼ
I Ice Tkin Tin
J Jackass Tkele-cho-gi Téliichoʼí
K Kid Klizzie-yazzi Tłʼízí yázhí
L Lamb Dibeh-yazzi Dibé yázhí
M Mouse Na-as-tso-si Naʼastsʼǫǫsí
N Nut Nesh-chee Neeshchʼííʼ
O Owl Ne-ash-jah Néʼéshjaaʼ
P Pig Bi-sodih Bisóodi
Q Quiver Ca-yeilth kʼaaʼ yeiłtįįh
R Rabbit Gah Gah
S Sheep Dibeh Dibé
T Turkey Than-zie Tązhii
U Ute No-da-ih Nóódaʼí
V Victor a-keh-di-glini Akʼehdidlíní
W Weasel Gloe-ih Dlǫ́ʼii
X Cross Al-an-as-dzoh Ałnáʼázdzoh
Y Yucca Tsah-as-zih Tsáʼásziʼ
Z Zinc Besh-do-gliz Béésh dootłʼizh

Nubian code talkers

In the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, Egypt employed Nubian-speaking Nubian people as codetalkers.[18][19][20][21][22]

Seminole code talkers

The last surviving Seminole code talker, Edmond Harjo of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, died on March 31, 2014, at the age of 96.[23][24] Harjo had served as far afield as Normandy and the Battle of Iwo Jima during the war.[24] His biography was recounted by Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Boehner at the Congressional Gold Medal ceremony honoring Harjo and other code talkers at the U.S. Capitol on November 20, 2013.[23][24][25]

Welsh code talkers

A system employing Welsh was used by British forces, but not to any great extent during World War II. Welsh was used more recently in the Yugoslav Wars for non-vital messages.[26]

Wenzhou code talkers

China used Wenzhounese speaking people as code talkers during the 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War.[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]

Cryptographic properties

Navajo code talkers, Saipan, June 1944

Non-speakers would find it extremely difficult to accurately distinguish unfamiliar sounds used in these languages. Additionally, a speaker who has acquired a language during their childhood sounds distinctly different from a person who acquired the same language in later life, thus reducing the chance of successful impostors sending false messages.

Navajo was an attractive choice for code use because few people outside the Navajo had learned to speak the language. Virtually no books in Navajo had been published. Outside of the language, the Navajo spoken code was not very complex by cryptographic standards. It would likely have been broken if a native speaker and trained cryptographers could have worked together effectively. The Japanese had an opportunity to attempt this when they captured Joe Kieyoomia in the Philippines in 1942 during the Bataan Death March. Kieyoomia, a Navajo sergeant in the U.S. Army, but not a code talker, was ordered to interpret the radio messages later in the war. However, since Kieyoomia had not participated in the code training, the messages made no sense to him. When he reported that he could not understand the messages, his captors tortured him.[36] The Japanese Imperial Army and Navy never cracked the spoken code.

Post-war recognition

The Navajo code talkers received no recognition until the declassification of the operation in 1968.[37] In 1982, the code talkers were given a Certificate of Recognition by U.S. President Ronald Reagan, who also named August 14, 1982 as "Navajo Code Talkers Day".[38][39]

On December 21, 2000 the U.S. Congress passed, and President Bill Clinton signed, Public Law 106-554, 114 Statute 2763, which awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to the original twenty-nine World War II Navajo code talkers, and Silver Medals to each person who qualified as a Navajo code talker (approximately 300). In July 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush personally presented the Medal to four surviving original code talkers (the fifth living original code talker was not able to attend) at a ceremony held in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. Gold medals were presented to the families of the deceased 24 original code talkers.[40][41]

On September 17, 2007, 18 Choctaw code talkers were posthumously awarded the Texas Medal of Valor from the Adjutant General of the State of Texas for their World War II service.[42]

On November 15, 2008, The Code Talkers Recognition Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-420), was signed into law by President George W. Bush, which recognizes every Native American code talker who served in the United States military during WWI or WWII (with the exception of the already-awarded Navajo) with a Congressional Gold Medal, designed as distinct for each tribe, with silver duplicates awarded to the individual code talkers or their next-of-kin.[43] As of 2013, 33 tribes have been identified and were honored at a ceremony at Emancipation Hall at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. One surviving code talker was present, Edmond Harjo.[44]

  • Code talkers on Bougainville, 1943
    Code talkers on Bougainville, 1943
  • Code talkers at work, Australia, July 1943
    Code talkers at work, Australia, July 1943
  • Code talker on Tarawa, November 1943
    Code talker on Tarawa, November 1943
  • Code talker Leslie Hemstreet, Okinawa, 1945
    Code talker Leslie Hemstreet, Okinawa, 1945

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Code talkers.

Notes

  1. ^ "Last Lakota code talker Clarence Wolf Guts dies at 86", Rapid City Journal (Rapid City, SD), 18 June 2010.
  2. ^ a b Murray, David (March 29, 2016). "Decorated war hero, code talker Gilbert Horn Sr. dies". Great Falls Tribune. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
  3. ^ En Euzkera se dio la orden del desembarco de Guadalcanal, Ramón de Arrieta, Euzko Deya. La Voz de los Vascos en México 149 (November 1952), page 22, México D.F.
  4. ^ "Egon arretaz egunari", Xabier G. Argüello, El País, August 1, 2004.
  5. ^ La orden de desembarco en Guadalcanal se dió en vascuence para que no lo descubrieran los nipones, Juan Hernani, El Diario Vasco, December 26, 1952, it quotes Revista general de marina. Bibliographic reference in Euskomedia.org. Based on Criptografía, Revista General de Marina, 143 (November 1952), pages 551–552. Ministerio de Marina, Madrid
  6. ^ Mikel Rodríguez. "Gaiak - Los vascos y la II Guerra Mundial". euskonews.com.
  7. ^ Pedro J. Oiarzabal and Guillermo Tabernilla (2017). "El enigma del mito y la historia: Basque Code Talkers en la Segunda Guerra Mundial'". Saibigain.
  8. ^ Template:Es Un estudio desmiente que el euskera se usara en código en la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Jesús J. Hernández, 25 June 2017, El Correo.
  9. ^ Stanley, Captain John W. Personal Experience of a Battalion Commander and Brigade Signal Officer, 105th Field Signal Battalion in the Somme Offensive, September 29 – October 8, 1997. U.S. Army, 1932.
  10. ^ a b "Choctaw Code Talkers of World War II". Retrieved February 13, 2008. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  11. ^ NSA Code Talker Exhibit
  12. ^ "The Comanche Code Talkers". Retrieved February 13, 2008. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  13. ^ a b c Matthew J. Seelinger, Army History Research: 124th Signal Battalion Archived February 17, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ "Comanche Code Talker Charles Chibitty Dies". Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
  15. ^ "Cree Code Talkers: Documentary Explores Role of Canada's Unsung WWII Heroes - Indian Country Media Network". indiancountrymedianetwork.com. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  16. ^ "About". Cree Code Talker. Retrieved November 4, 2017.
  17. ^ "Last Meskwaki code talker remembers". USA Today. July 4, 2002. Retrieved February 13, 2008. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  18. ^ "Changing Egypt Offers Hope to Long-Marginalized Nubians". News.nationalgeographic.com. December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  19. ^ "Remembering Nubia: the Land of Gold - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online". English.ahram.org.eg. April 18, 2012. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  20. ^ El Nuba (April 2, 2014). "El Nuba | Cairo West Magazine". Cairowestmag.com. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  21. ^ "Peaceful Societies". Peaceful Societies. February 13, 2014. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  22. ^ "Code Talkers: Native American Languages in the Military". Alpha Omega Translations. June 17, 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  23. ^ a b Attocknie, Dana (April 7, 2014). "Last living Seminole Code Talker walks on, loved ones pay respects, honor hero". Native American Times. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  24. ^ a b c "Seminole code talker Edmond Harjo dies at 96". Tulsa World. April 13, 2014. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  25. ^ Peterson, Dick (November 21, 2013). "Treasury and Mint Join Congress to Honor Native American Code Talkers". United States Department of the Treasury. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
  26. ^ Heath, Tony (August 26, 1996). "Welsh speak up for their ancient tongue". The Independent. p. 6.
  27. ^ Nanlai Cao (November 4, 2010). Constructing China's Jerusalem: Christians, Power, and Place in Contemporary Wenzhou. Stanford University Press. pp. 195–. ISBN 978-0-8047-7360-7.
  28. ^ David Aikman (March 27, 2012). Jesus in Beijing: How Christianity Is Transforming China And Changing the Global Balance of Power. Regnery Publishing, Incorporated, An Eagle Publishing Company. pp. 183–. ISBN 978-1-59698-652-7.
  29. ^ Zhang Zhixiong (June 23, 2015). Chinese Education in Singapore: An untold story of conflict and change. Zhixiong Zhang. pp. 38–. ISBN 978-981-09-3952-6.
  30. ^ Steger, Isabella (May 21, 2014). "Do You Dare Try the Devil-Language? China's 10 Hardest Dialects". The Wall Street Journal.
  31. ^ Ching, Frank (August 2, 2010). "The winning ways of minority languages". South China Morning Post.
  32. ^ "美剧称温州方言为"恶魔之语" FBI都甘拜下风". 人民网. August 17, 2015.
  33. ^ "美剧中惊现"恶魔之语"温州话，这是咋回事？". 澎湃新闻. August 18, 2015.
  34. ^ "美剧《盲点》称温州话为"恶魔之语" 温州话到底多难懂？". 观察者网. August 16, 2015.
  35. ^ "中国十大最难懂方言 温州话居首". Douban.com. May 23, 2014. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  36. ^ "The People's Paths home page: How Effective Was Navajo Code? One Former Captive Knows". Yvwiiusdinvnohii.net. Archived from the original on November 9, 2013. Retrieved 2014-03-12. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  37. ^ Fonseca, Felicia (February 11, 2008). "Navajo Code Talker dead at age 82". The Denver Post. Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 30, 2008. Retrieved March 19, 2008.
  38. ^ "National Navaho Code Talkers Day". Lapahie.com. August 14, 1982. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
  39. ^ "Navajo Code Talkers and the Unbreakable Code — Central Intelligence Agency". Cia.gov. November 6, 2008. Retrieved March 12, 2014.
  40. ^ "Navajo code talkers honored after 56 years". CNN. July 27, 2001. Retrieved August 3, 2014.
  41. ^ "P.L. 106-554, see 114 STAT. 2763A–311" (PDF). gpo.gov. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
  42. ^ Texas military honors Choctaw code talkers. Retrieved on May 2, 2008.
  43. ^ "P.L. 110-420" (PDF). gpo.gov. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
  44. ^ "Treasury and Mint Join Congress to Honor Native American Code Talkers". treasury.gov. Retrieved September 12, 2015.

References

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