Army Air Force, a group of Canadian Cree soldiers in the 9th Bomb Command and two Crow in the 97th Bomb Command used their Native languages as codes in Europe. Marine Corps began training Navajo to do so in 1942, and the Army formed a group of Hopi soldiers to do so in 1943. Army recruited small groups of Comanche, Chippewa, Oneida and Meskwaki to create codes in their respective languages. These Native communicators set a precedent that was expanded upon in World War II. Although the term “code talker” did not appear in Marine records until 1944, numerous military officers referred to the use of Native languages as “code” by the end of World War I. By the end of the war, several Native languages were being used at various locations throughout the Western Front. The impact was immediate, as demonstrated by the successes of Eastern Band Cherokee soldiers in the 30th Division at Montbrehein and Choctaw and Cherokee in the 36th Division at Forest Ferme. Units in France began experimenting by placing small groups of Hochunk, Eastern Band Cherokee and Choctaw soldiers on telephones to send messages in their Native languages it foiled the Germans. The idea to use Native language as a “code” that would baffle the Germans was discovered when commanders overheard their Native soldiers speaking to each other in the field. Armed Forces was the ability to speak Native languages. The Indigenous skill that did become one of the most important and unique contributions to the U.S. As a result, a high percentage of Indigenous soldiers were wounded and killed in combat. As American Indians found themselves expected to possess these abilities, they also often volunteered for some of the most dangerous assignments to fulfill military expectations, follow their tribal military heritage and boost their own self-confidence. This assumption often led commanders to place Native Americans in dangerous positions as scouts, point men and snipers. Such stereotyping-which Vietnam veteran Tom Holm (Creek/Cherokee) calls the “Indian Scout Syndrome”-continued into World War I and beyond. Because the Indigenous people who grew up in rural areas were used to navigating rugged landscapes to hunt, trap and fish, non-Native soldiers began to believe that American Indians were natural warriors who were stealthier and possessed innate skills such as an inherent sense of direction, heightened hearing and the ability to see farther at night. Army forces as guides and scouts to perform reconnaissance. Myths about Native martial abilities originated in colonial times when American Indians began to be recruited by U.S.
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