Reply #6: INDIANS IN THE MILITARY

[Demeter]

http://www.nativeculturelinks.com/vets.html

The native women in the military was interesting but they left out Lori Piestwa. She was killed in Iraq. In Az, they use to have a mountian named Squaw Peak-now called Peistwa Peak after Lori. When I lived in Cloudcroft, our town adopted her unit way before the war. They came up here, the kids wrote letters. Imagine our shock then they engaged in combat and we lost many of our military friend. I can never say enough good about Lori or any of my other sisters in arms when I was on active duty. We found each other quickly and shared a bond that made us closer than sisters...

DON'T FORGET the Navajo Code Talkers and Ira Hayes. Lots of Indians escaped the Rez via the military and served with honour and distinction.

Native Americans who served in the United States Marine Corps whose primary job was the transmission of secret tactical messages. Code talkers transmitted these messages over military telephone or radio communications nets using formal or informally developed codes built upon their native languages. Their service was very valuable because it enhanced the communications security of vital front line operations during World War II.

The name code talkers is strongly associated with bilingual Navajo speakers specially recruited during World War II by the Marines to serve in their standard communications units in the Pacific Theater. Code talking, however, was pioneered by Choctaw Indians serving in the U.S. Army during World War I. These soldiers are referred to as Choctaw Code Talkers.

Other Native American code talkers were used by the United States Army during World War II, using Cherokee, Choctaw and Comanche soldiers. Soldiers of Basque ancestry were used for code talking by the US Marines during World War II in areas where other Basque speakers were not expected to be operating.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_talker CONTAINS MANY INSTANCES OF SAME

http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq61-1.htm


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