By Todd Vorak
Associated Press Writer


TAMA, Iowa (AP) – Dewey Youngbear lied about his age when he joined the Army in 1941.

He was captured by German soldiers a year later and spent the next three years of World War II in a prison camp in Poland. He died in a Denver hospital shortly after the war, and until now, few knew of his behind-the-scene heroics as one of the war’s American Indian code talkers.

They do now.

Youngbear was one of six members of the Meskwaki Tribe honored with medals Sunday by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.

“I didn’t know until a few years ago what he did during the war,” said Marguerite Youngbear, who was an infant when her father left to fight overseas. “When I found out, I thought to myself, ‘wow,’ that’s amazing, because the job they did was of such importance. I’m just so proud of him.”

During the war, hundreds of American Indians from 18 tribes were dispatched beyond the front lines on 24-hour shifts to observe enemy positions and troop movements, then relay intelligence back to base using codes developed from their native language.

German intelligence officers were aware of the transmissions, but were never able to break the codes, Harkin said.

Eight Meskwakis – among 27 tribal members who enlisted in the war – were among those trained as code talkers and assigned missions in Algeria, Tunisia and later in Italy. None are living today.

“These were extremely dangerous missions they were sent on,” Harkin told more than 100 people attending the medal ceremony at the American Legion Post 73. “Our Army was successful in North Africa and beyond because of the heroism of the code talkers and the valuable information they sent back.”

Along with Dewey Youngbear, the others honored with medals and standing ovations include: Edward Benson, Dewey Roberts, Melvin Twin, Judie Carl Wayne and Mike Wayne.

The two other Meskwakis who served as code talkers include Wayne Sanache and his brother Frank, who died at age 86 in August.

The code talkers’ achievements went unnoticed for so long because their mission was top secret and remained classified until 1968. Of the 18 tribes who provided code talkers, the best known were from the Navajo, which contributed more than 350 code talkers. Some of their stories inspired the 2002 Hollywood movie “Windtalkers.”

In 2001, 29 original Navajo code talkers were presented with the Congressional Gold Medal by President Bush, while dozens of others were awarded Congressional Silver Medals.

“History has not been as complete as it ought to be,” said Harkin, who began working with tribal officials last year to honor the Meskwakis. “It’s also ironic since Meskwakis and other American Indian tribes at the time were being encouraged to abandon their native languages.”

Robert John Roberts, the son of Dewey Roberts, said his father, like the other Meskwaki code talkers, was humble about his war time deeds.

“It’s been a long time coming, but better late than never,” Roberts said.

i'm THINKING hard about trying to learn navaho for just the fun of it... (emphasis on 'thinking' and 'try'...)

As a way of honoring the codetalkers or why?

My experience at University of Minesota in the 70's in Native American Study courses, was white students were accepted and encouraged to take Native American History, and Intro courses, but were not welcomed in the Ojibiwa or Dakota language courses, perhaps this has changed in 35 years.

I echo the sentiments it's about time these courageous Native heroes were recognized for their war effort. I'd like to see the Japanese American forces,(who signed up for intelligence units), recognized.Their families were in internment camps and they still volunteered, amazing! Britian should also recognize the gay man that broke the Nazi codes, (the folks so hellbent on Don't Ask Don't Tell, need it rubbed in their face that our (LGBT) creativity and language skills stopped the Nazis, and could have decoded 200 (cheneying) hours of arabic intercepted messages BEFORE 9/11, but you'd rather toss out 26 arab linguist because they are filthy lil' queers!

For my way of thinking, the priority for Native language should really be with members of the tribes themselves. It is essential to the survival of the tribes that new generations begin working with those elders who still speak the languages fluently and attain fluency in the languages. There is a lot of this going on and I hope and pray it will continue.

I guess I don't understand what desire a non-Native would have to learn any native language, unless of course that non-Native has already read and understood the volumes and volumes of Native writing that have been produced in the English language or unless that non-Native has some other practical need to learn a native language (like if they're involved in some project working with tribal elders, for example, whose knowledge of English is limited).

it's nice when they do half the work for you, isn't it?

serioulsly, why ANY alien language???

why art?

Who's the "they" in your post and what is in your view an "alien" language?

Puts an interesting twist on it, I guess: many of the Natives who were forbidden from speaking their own languages during the boarding school experience, when they were beaten for speaking those languages, or beaten when they were unable to answer questions posed to them in English (for them a very foreign language), may have been considered "illegal aliens." I once wrote a piece with that title. In English.

I saw a wonderful movie " Windtalkers" about the Navajo Indian code talkers of WWII.
It's a 2002 movie, but if you have a chance to rent it, do so-a terrific movie. I had never heard of the Indian code talkers before I saw this film.

Some info about this movie: http://www.mgm.com/windtalkers/html/

It is wonderful that the men of honor are being recognized. We owe them more than we will probably ever realize.

Indeed, the movie was good inasmuch as it drew attention to the Codetalkers. However, I couldn't help but sum up the movie's message as, more or less: Kill the savage, save the code. In other words, it was all about saving the Indian simply for what he had to offer the US at the time. His value as a human being was not in any way acknowledged. He was valued only as a "translation machine".

In that sense, I guess, a pretty realistic portrayal of the US rrelationship to Indian people.

Chester Nez, btw, was also a codetalker--one who endorsed Kerry and in fact "blessed" him in a sacred ceremony. He similarly "blessed" the Boston Red Sox with a ceremony that might (if you take Navajo religion SERIOUSLY) be credited with having broken the 86-yr old Bambino curse and led the the Sox to World Series Victory. The Sox pitcher (whose name I have quickly and gladly forgotten) subsequently showed his appreciation, respect and honor for the Codetalker Chester Nez by endorsing Bush. What an insult. Just sickening. And the fact that hardly anyone recognized it to be an insult is sickening in itself, but par for the course in this country's "troubled" relationship to Native peoples.