Last Commanche "Code-Talker" Dies.

JD Mandrell

JD Mandrell

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Due to several books and the movie "Windtalkers", many people know of the Navajo Code-Talkers that served in the U.S. Marine Corps. in the Pacific Theater of WWII, lesser known were the 17 Commanche Code-Talkers that served in the U.S. Army in the European Theater and took part in the Normandy Invasion. On July 19th 2005 the last surviving Commanche Code-Talker, Charles Chibitty passed away at age 83.

From the Native Times:

"Chibitty was one of 17 Oklahoma Comanches attached to the 4th Infantry Division, 4th Signal Corps, during WWII. According to a biography from United States Department of Defense, Chibitty was born near Medicine Park, Okla. on Nov. 20, 1921. After attending Haskell Indian School in Lawrence, Kan., he enlisted in the U.S. Army in January 1941. While in the Army, Cpl. Chibitty earned the World War II Victory Medal, the European Theater of Operations (5th Bronze Star) Victory Medal, the Europe African Middle East Campaign Medal, and the Good Conduct Medal."

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting and learning from Mr. Chibitty in Feb. of 2004 when he spoke at So. Il. University for Native American History Month. He was a truly fascinating man and his story of service to his country is inspiring.

Below are some pictures I took then.

CC1.jpg


CC2.jpg


Charles Chibitty, R.I.P.
 
May he rest in peace. I did not know that there were any Comanche code talkers. Was the Comanche language as tough as the Navajo language? I would like to send this to some friends of mine, do you have a link to the article?
 
One of the great advantages of using native American languages was that German lingusitic scholarship was renowned -- for Old World languages. But they didn't have people who could deal with New World languages. Except maybe Pig Latin.

So all the Indian languages were tough. And so were all the Indians. And now one more hero is gone. Thanks for the picture of him with that smile! :D
 
Here's a great profile I found while searching for that link: Comanche Code Talker Charles Chibitty.

Chibitty said when he attended Indian school in the 1920s, teachers became angry with him because he was speaking the Comanche language. "When we got caught talking Indian, we got punished," he noted. "I told my cousin that they're trying to make little white boys out of us," he said.

After joining the Army years later, he told his cousin, "They tried to make us quit talking Indian in school, now they want us to talk Indian."
Click to expand...
 
I wonder if the screenwriters for that movie 'Windtalkers' interviewed Chibitty before writing the script. There is a scene in it that is strikingly similar to the quote posted by Esav.


R.I.P., Charles Chibitty. What an amazing life he must have had.
 
silenthunterstudios said:
May he rest in peace. I did not know that there were any Comanche code talkers. Was the Comanche language as tough as the Navajo language? I would like to send this to some friends of mine, do you have a link to the article?
Click to expand...

I actually learned about it early this morning when it ran across the bottom of the screen on CNN, but went online and found this.

http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=6743

He truly was a wonderful speaker to here that day, his perspective on serving in an army that many relatives told him at the time was the same army that used to kill our people was enlightening. He told them "We may not be white americans, but we are americans and we can save the lives of other americans by serving this way".

What Esav said was right, New World languages are so different than Old World that the Axis powers were never able to break the codes based on them. Some examples of the code that Mr. Chibitty taught us were funny because the Commanche language doesn't have words for certain modern things, so they had to improvise.

A Tank was a "turtle"
A Bazooka was a "Stove Pipe Gun"
Hitler was "Crazy White Man"...he really thought that was funny!
 
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