Welcome to Native ChocTalk

Season 1

S6, E1, Pt2: Dr. William Meadows on “The First Code Talkers, Native American Communicators of World War I”, Part 2

I hope you’ll enjoy episode 2 of this 5-part series on the most requested topic from my listeners – The Code Talkers.

Meet scholar and Anthropologist, Dr. William Meadows, Professor at Missouri State University who shares about the groundbreaking research detailed in his book, “The First Code Talkers, Native American Communicators of World War I”. 

 Get ready to experience a mix of oral history, individual soldiers’ accounts and newspapers, truly bringing these heroes’ stories to life.

In episode 2 you’ll learn about:

  • The Choctaw Code Talkers
  • How Native boarding schools prepared many Native American boys for the military.
  • The 36th contained nearly 600 Native Americans speaking 26 languages and dialects.
  • Natives in sports while serving in WW1.
  • Why the 36th became known as the “Millionaire Company”
  • The serious impacts of the Germans tapping into Americans communications.
  • Why being a “runner” had to have been the worst job in the WWI.
  • What launched the first code talking.

Yakoke to the brave Native American men and women who have served our country and all our Veterans! And many thanks to Dr. Meadows for sharing his research with us. 

Native ChocTalk Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nativechoctalkpodcast

All Podcast Episodes: https://nativechoctalk.com/podcasts/

S6, E1, Pt3: Dr. William Meadows on “The First Code Talkers, Native American Communicators of World War I”, Part 3

I hope you’ll enjoy episode 3 of this 5-part series on the most requested topic from my listeners – The Code Talkers.

Meet scholar and Anthropologist, Dr. William Meadows, Professor at Missouri State University who shares about the groundbreaking research detailed in his book, “The First Code Talkers, Native American Communicators of World War I”. 

Get ready to experience a mix of oral history, individual soldiers’ accounts and newspapers, truly bringing these heroes’ stories to life.

In episode 3 you’ll hear about the following topics:

  • Was code talking actually classified as secret after the war and were the code talkers sworn to secrecy about their code talking?
  • Choctaws, Benjamin Colbert, Victor Brown, Louis Gooding, Albert Billy, Noel Johnson,
  • A deep dive into Joseph Oklahombi – his significant and heroic contributions in battle, the many misconceptions around his actions during the war, and his famous “panther cry”
  • We discuss Judy Allen’s book, Joseph Oklahombi and The Panther War Cry which can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/5hf3tuty

Yakoke to the brave Native American men and women who have served our country and all our Veterans! And many thanks to Dr. Meadows for sharing his research with us.

Native ChocTalk Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nativechoctalkpodcast

All Podcast Episodes: https://nativechoctalk.com/podcasts/

S6, E1, Pt1: Dr. William Meadows on “The First Code Talkers, Native American Communicators of World War I”, Part 1

We kick off our first episode of season 6 with a 5-part series on the most requested topic from my listeners – The Code Talkers.

Meet scholar and Anthropologist, Dr. William Meadows, Professor at Missouri State University who shares about the groundbreaking research detailed in his book, “The First Code Talkers, Native American Communicators of World War I”. Get ready to experience a mix of oral history, individual soldiers’ accounts and newspapers, truly bringing these heroes’ stories to life.

You can find Dr. Meadows’ book here and in many online and retail shops: http://tinyurl.com/bdfwp2kb

In this episode you’ll learn about:

  • The importance and power of secure communications in military operations.
  • How code talking dumbfounded the Germans.
  • A 1919 Stars and Strips article stating attributes of Native servicemen, included being good runners, good marksmen, stoic under fire, using signals readily, their “uncanny sense of direction,” in blindfolded tests, scouting and patrol work in combat and their abilities at night.
  • The term, “Indian Scout Syndrome”.
  • Compared to the total population at the time, Native Americans volunteered at a rate nearly twice that of the rest of the American population.
  • The Easter Band of Cherokee in WWI.

Dr. Meadows set out to discover the following in his research:

  • Who were the first code talkers? Some think the Navajo, some would guess the Choctaw.
  • You may be surprised at the answer!
  • Was code talking actually classified as secret after the war?
  • What factors led to the formation of Native-language military communicators in World War I?
  • Who originated the idea to utilize the Choctaw, and how many were used in WW I?

I hope you’ll enjoy this series on our brave Native American men and women who served our country.

And yakoke for sharing your research with us, Dr. Meadows!

Native ChocTalk Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nativechoctalkpodcast

All Podcast Episodes: https://nativechoctalk.com/podcasts/

Native ChocTalk
Native ChocTalk is an informative and educational podcast and resource center.

Connect

Be A Sponsor

To be a sponsor, contact Rachael Youngman at [email protected]