Thought you might be interested in some of my niijjwagun's family:
Two of her uncles
Her mom's brother Robert Morgan
"After the war, people moved more freely in and out of the life on the Meskwaki Settlement, and new ideas competed with old. More than fifty Meskwaki had served in the military during World War II, and the returning veterans established their own American Legion post in tribute to young Robert Morgan, the first Meskwaki casualty of the war. Ironically, these men were the first generation of Meskwaki to enjoy the full rights of U.S. citizenship, granted to Native Americans only as recently as 1924. Yet they honorably defended this country, fighting as warriors for both their homeland and adopted nation."
Another uncle- Frank Sanache Who was a POW.
The Comanche and the Meskwaki were probably among the first to be trained as code talkers, although more than a dozen tribes were involved. As a February 1941 newspaper explains, they “were trained to translate messages from English to their own language and relay them by radio or phone to an Indian who in turn will turn the message back into English for officers.” The headline proclaims “Army Indians to Foil Enemy Listeners,” while the accompanying photo depicts the Meskwaki wearing stereotypical feather headdresses more typical of western Plains Indians than the Meskwaki’s traditional regalia. According to the press, the young men, who ranged in age from 18 to 22, were “induced to join up only when they realized that they were to play a strategic part helping the 168th maintain a valiant tradition in battle.”
The eight Meskwaki—brothers Frank and Willard Sanache, Dewey Roberts, Edward Benson, Melvin Twin, Dewey Youngbear, and brothers Judy Wayne Wabaunasee and Mike Wayne Wabaunasee—joined Company H, the heavy weapons company of the 168th, just three weeks before the unit was mobilized. Their initial training was at Camp Dodge in Johnston, Iowa, but they were soon sent to Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, for more intensive training in the use of the walkie-talkies. As the newspaper reported, the shortwave radios “are carried in a pack strapped to a soldier’s back, have a collapsible antenna and a three mile range.” Besides mastering gunnery school, radio operators had to learn to use the code and understand electronics, mechanics, and the inner workings of a radio such as vacuum tubes, amplifiers, transformers, and transmitters. Field communications were vastly improved using the Indian code language to send indecipherable messages about enemy troop movements, battlefield tactics, and directions for artillery fire.
Ogichidaa
November 17, 2015 @ 04:57:58 am
