Many Americans know something about the Navajo code talkers in
World War II - but little else about the military service of Native
Americans, who have served in our armed forces since the American
Revolution, and still serve in larger numbers than any other ethnic
group. But, as we learn in this splendid work of historical
restitution, code talking originated in World War I among Native
soldiers whose extraordinary service resulted, at long last, in
U.S. citizenship for all Native Americans. The first full account
of these forgotten soldiers in our nation's military history, The
First Code Talkers covers all known Native American code talkers of
World War I - members of the Choctaw, Oklahoma Cherokee, Comanche,
Osage, and Sioux nations, as well as the Eastern Band of Cherokee
and Ho-Chunk, whose veterans have yet to receive congressional
recognition. William C. Meadows, the foremost expert on the
subject, describes how Native languages, which were essentially
unknown outside tribal contexts and thus could be as effective as
formal encrypted codes, came to be used for wartime communication.
While more than thirty tribal groups were eventually involved in
World Wars I and II, this volume focuses on Native Americans in the
American Expeditionary Forces during the First World War. Drawing
on nearly thirty years of research - in U.S. military and Native
American archives, surviving accounts from code talkers and their
commanding officers, family records, newspaper accounts, and
fieldwork in descendant communities - the author explores the
origins, use, and legacy of the code talkers. In the process, he
highlights such noted decorated veterans as Otis Leader, Joseph
Oklahombi, and Calvin Atchavit and scrutinizes numerous
misconceptions and popular myths about code talking and the secrecy
surrounding the practice. With appendixes that include a timeline
of pertinent events, biographies of known code talkers, and related
World War I data, this book is the first comprehensive work ever
published on Native American code talkers in the Great War and
their critical place in American military history.
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