- Teacher Materials: Code Talking
- Student Worksheet: Argumentative Writing
- Student Worksheet: Constructing Questions
- Student Worksheet: Text–Dependent Test Prep 1
- Student Worksheet: Text–Dependent Test Prep 2
The American Indian Warrior Tradition
Play Narration Your browser does not support the audio element.For thousands of years, American Indian men have protected their communities and lands. “Warrior” is an English word that has come to describe them. However, their traditional roles involved more than fighting enemies. They cared for people and helped in many ways, in any time of difficulty. They would do anything to help their people survive, including laying down their own lives.
Warriors were regarded with the utmost respect in their communities. Boys trained from an early age to develop the spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical strength they would need to become warriors. Many tribes had special warrior societies, which had their own ceremonies, songs, dances, and regalia that they wore. Usually, a warrior had to prove himself before being asked to join a warrior society. It was a great honor to be chosen in this way.
Despite everything that American Indians had endured in the past, the warrior tradition—the tradition of protecting their people—called many of them to serve in the United States military. They cared about their communities and the lands on which their people had lived for thousands of years. Many of them also served out of a sense of patriotism, wanting to defend the United States. For some American Indians, the military offered economic security and an opportunity for education, training, and world travel.
More than 12,000 American Indians served in World War I—about 25 percent of the male American Indian population at that time. During World War II, when the total American Indian population was less than 400,000, an estimated 44,000 Indian men and 800 women served.
Hear an excerpt of the Navajo Code Talkers song. The song is sung out of respect for the Code Talkers.
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Listen to an excerpt of the Comanche Code Talker Song. The song honors the Code Talkers for their achievements.
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Recruitment & Training
Play Narration Your browser does not support the audio element.In World War I, Choctaw and other American Indians transmitted battle messages in their tribal languages by telephone. Although not used extensively, the World War I telephone operators played a key role in helping the United States Army win several battles in France that brought about the end of the war.
Beginning in 1940, the army recruited Comanche, Meskwaki, Chippewa, Oneida, and later, Hopi, people to transmit messages in code during World War II. The army had special American Indian recruiters working to find Comanche in Oklahoma who would enlist. Members of other tribes served as Code Talkers but they were not specifically recruited by the military.
The Marine Corps recruited Navajo Code Talkers in 1941 and 1942. Philip Johnston was a World War I veteran who had heard about the successes of the Choctaw telephone squad. Johnston, although not Indian, had grown up on the Navajo reservation. He suggested to the Marine Corps that the Navajo and other tribes could be very helpful in maintaining communications secrecy. After viewing a demonstration of messages sent in the Navajo language, the Marine Corps was so impressed that they recruited twenty-nine Navajos in two weeks to develop a code within their language.
After the Navajo code was developed, the Marine Corps established a Code Talking school. As the war progressed, more than 400 Navajos were eventually recruited as Code Talkers. The training was intense. Following their basic training, the Code Talkers completed extensive training in communications and memorizing the code.
Some Code Talkers enlisted; others were drafted. Many of the Code Talkers who served were underage and had to lie about their age to enlist. Some were just fifteen years old.
All I thought when I went in, the Marine Corps was going to give me a belt of ammunition and a rifle, a steel helmet, and a uniform. Go and shoot some of those Japanese. That’s what I thought; but later on they told us differently, you know different style, purpose of, you know, why they got us in.
Chester Nez, Navajo Code Talker
That was about 1940, and when I got home I said, ‘I found out they was recruiting twenty Comanches who could talk their tribe fluently for a special unit,’ and I told dad, ‘I’d like to go.’
Charles Chibitty, Comanche Code Talker
We were drafted. They made us go in. I didn’t volunteer.
Franklin Shupla, Hopi Code Talker
