The First Code Talkers: Native American Communicators in World War I by William C. Meadows

Abstract

Reviewed by: The First Code Talkers: Native American Communicators in World War I by William C. Meadows Richard Hughes The First Code Talkers: Native American Communicators in World War I. By William C. Meadows. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2021. xi + 376 pp. Illustrations, tables, maps, notes, sources cited, index. $69.95 cloth. In 2008 Congress passed the Code Talker Recognition Act, which awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to Native Americans involved with communication efforts in World War I and II. In The First Code Talkers, William Meadows attempts to provide a definitive account of the role these Native Americans played during World War I and the impact of their service since 1918. Using ethnohistorical methodology and source criticism, Meadows argues that code talkers from five tribes—Choctaw, Cherokee, Comanche, Lakota, and Ho-Chunk—contributed to the Allied victory in 1918 because the German military was unable to decode their Native languages. Perhaps more importantly, the legacy of the code talkers, in addition to leading to a similar program in World War II, was a renewed pride in tribal cultures and contributions in the face of twentieth-century efforts at assimilation. Meadows focuses on a few Choctaw soldiers from the Thirty-Sixth Infantry Division, whose background in multiple languages and attendance of Great Plains boarding schools that provided some military training made them ideal candidates to translate messages. Created at combat locations in October 1918 out of necessity rather than from a centralized program, the code talkers played a key role during the costly Meuse-Argonne Offensive in the last days of the war. The code talkers, among more [End Page 170] than 10,000 Native Americans who served, were so successful that Choctaw participants created an encoded vocabulary to address military terms that were not part of their language. Only the armistice prevented the likely formalization of the innovative program. Unlike the Navajo program during World War II, which remained classified for decades, numerous public accounts in newspapers and military publications lauded the World War I code talkers as early as 1919. Despite incomplete or incorrect records and decades of hearsay and sloppy reporting that make firm conclusions impossible, Meadows embraces the imprecision of Native American military history with an analysis of the subsequent role of this history since 1919. He argues that the success of Native American soldiers both confirmed racist stereotypes prevalent in American culture at the time and was invaluable to non-Natives in promoting a portrait of wartime sacrifice and unity. For tribal communities, the impact of the code talkers was a "reinvigorated … martial ideology" (237), renewed interest in the preservation of Native languages, and countless recent efforts, especially in Oklahoma, at public commemoration that celebrate heroes and shape meaningful historical narratives. [End Page 171] Richard Hughes Department of History Illinois State University Copyright © 2022 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln