He walked alone the night he died.
He was recognized as Oklahoma’s Greatest Hero, the most highly decorated Native American serviceman during World War I, one of the original "Code Talkers" as well as receiving France’s highest military honor after he and 23 other soldiers held off more than 200 German soldiers.
A full blooded Choctaw, he remembered the stories his grandparents told him, when they were forced to walk away from their home tribal lands during the Trail of Tears as part of the infamous Indian Removal Act.
Yet, when the same country who forced his grandparents to walk the Trail of Tears found itself in World War I, he would walk 22 miles to the nearest town to join the Army and defend this country.
But, he didn’t die battling German soldiers during the war - he died on a lonely, Oklahoma road, hit accidentally by a truck while walking. He had been forgotten by his country, broke, struggling to support his family.
His name is Joseph Oklahombi. He received a Silver Star for risking his life during the war, but since Native Americans during that time were not citizens and minority soldiers were rarely recognized, he never received the Medal of Honor he deserved.
This is a new story on the Jon S. Randal Peace Page, focusing on past and present stories seldom told of lives forgotten, ignored, or dismissed. The stories are gathered from writers, journalists, and historians to share awareness and foster understanding.
This is a story honoring Joseph Oklahombi and all the Native Americans who courageously served this nation, for this Veteran’s Day weekend during National Native American Heritage Month.
Like Ira Hayes (another Native American hero honored by the Peace Page), Joseph Oklahombi didn’t set out to be a hero, yet he became one but was never honored or recognized during his lifetime.
Oklahombi was born in 1895 in the Kiamichi Mountains of Southeastern Oklahoma in what was then called Indian Territory. He was a member of the Choctaw nation.
He remembered the stories his grandparents told him when 1,000 Choctaw were forced out of their native lands in 1846 as part of President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act, made to walk all the way to Oklahoma Indian Territory in what was known as the Trail of Tears.
“When the U.S. entered World War I in April 1917, many Native Americans welcomed the opportunity to serve in the armed forces,” according to the Smithsonian / National Museum of the American Indian. “By September, nearly 12,000 men had registered for military service. Native women also volunteered and served as army nurses in France. Approximately 10,000 American Indians joined the Red Cross, collecting money and donating supplies to support the war effort. All this when one third of American Indians remained unrecognized as U.S. citizens.”
“Joseph Oklahombi was not officially recognized as a citizen of the United States at the time of his enlistment,” according to the US Department of Veteran’s Affairs. But, when World War I started, “he enlisted in the Army and served as part of the Company D, 1st Battalion, 141st Regiment, 71st Brigade of the 36th Infantry Division.
He would find himself at one of the largest and bloodiest contests during WWI, the Meuse-Argonne campaign.
“During the October 1918 Meuse-Argonne campaign German intelligence successfully intercepted Allied military correspondence,” wrote Anthony Two Hawks Charoensook. “To combat the problem the 141st, 142d, and 143d Infantry Regiments utilized Choctaw soldiers, including Oklahombi, to translate messages in their native tongue. At headquarters they ‘decoded’ Choctaw into English and communicated messages to those in the field.
These Choctaw were the original ‘Code Talkers.’”
[When most people hear the term “Code Talker,” they immediately think of the courageous Navajos who fought with the United States Marine and Army units throughout the Pacific in WWII. But the fact is that the original Code Talkers came about in WWI,” according to The Veteran’s Site.]
But, “Pvt. Joseph Oklahombi of the 141st Infantry Regiment went beyond his duties as a translator,” according to writer Matt Fratus.
“In October 1918, Oklahombi and 23 of his fellow D Co. soldiers were cut off from the rest of the company and were surrounded by vastly superior numbers,” according to Dan Doyle of The Veterans Site. “They were being raked by a German machine gun nest that was supported by 50 trench mortars.”
“Oklahombi braved a violent artillery barrage and scampered some 210 yards through barbed wire entanglements across no man’s land to ambush a series of German machine-gun nests,” wrote Fratus.
“Under relentless shelling (including the use of chemical gas), Oklahombi held the line for the next four days. Without resupply of food, water, or ammunition, Oklahombi crossed no man’s land many times to acquire intelligence on enemy forces and assist his wounded comrades.”
He and his men captured more than 50 machine guns, several trench mortars, and 171 prisoners.
The French government would award Oklahombi the Croix de Guerre, one of the country’s highest medals for gallantry. But, his own country would only issue Oklahombi the Silver Star medal, the third-highest achievement for valor.
“At that time, no Native American service members from World War I had received the Medal of Honor,” wrote Fratus. “The US didn’t consider Native Americans as US citizens until 1924, some eight years after Oklahombi’s battlefield heroics.”
In fact, “no minority soldier at the time had ever received a Medal of Honor,” according to writer Ginny Underwood.
“A humble man by nature and culture, [Oklahombi] returned home from the war with no fanfare or fuss,” wrote Doyle. “He rejoined his wife and children and worked in a sawmill. Like the other Code Talkers, he was sworn to secrecy about what he did during the war, just as the Navajo Code Talkers would be after WWII.”
“When he came home from war, they told him not to talk about how he served as a code talker in case they needed to use the language again,” Lee Watkins, a descendent of Oklahombi and member of Chihowa Okla United Methodist Church in Durant, Oklahoma, told United Methodist News. “For a long time, no one knew what he had done.”
“Oklahombi and the others honored that secrecy for the rest of their lives,” wrote Doyle. “Their families never even knew what they had done as Code Talkers.
Fratus wrote:
“In 1932, at age 37, Oklahombi requested government financial and disability assistance. Since he wasn’t wounded in the war, a government paycheck was never in the cards. Oklahombi couldn’t get a job, and for five years he struggled to obtain financial assistance. In 1937, The Daily Oklahoman featured a profile about Oklahombi’s war record and a report on the US government’s failure to take care of its Native American veterans.”
“The chances are that Oklahombi has earned less than $1,000 in cash in the 18 1/2 years since he returned from the war,” reporter R.G. Miller wrote.
“A truck struck and killed Oklahombi in 1960. His vocal supporters have advocated for his Silver Star medal to be upgraded to the Medal of Honor. So far, the effort has not succeeded.
“Many have attempted and are still attempting to get Oklahombi’s Silver Star upgraded to a Medal of Honor,” wrote Underwood.
In 2015, a group of students at Mannsville studied Oklahombi for their National History Day project.
Matt Patterson of the Oklahoman wrote:
“[The students] were struck by [Oklahombi’s] contributions to the war, and his bravery, but wondered why he wasn’t afforded the United States’ highest military honor.”
“The boys just could not figure out how he did not receive the Medal of Honor,” Mannsville teacher Nellie Garone said. “They looked at all of his accomplishments and how he served his country heroically and they felt like he deserved more recognition than he got at the time.”
“Those questions led to a project to help Oklahombi receive the honor,” according to the Oklahoman.
“He sacrificed so much that he deserves to be recognized for it,” eighth-grader Gus Peoples said. “One of the worst things that we found out during this was that had he been awarded the Medal of Honor he would have had more benefits for his family which he had a hard time supporting after the war.”
“Eighth-grader Alion Morgan was interested in his service during the war, but found the way Oklahombi was treated after it was troubling. He believes the man he has studied for the last year was not treated well.”
“The most interesting thing to me is how America treated him after the war,” he said. “He risked his life and the guys who got the medal after him who also fought in the war got money, and land and other things that he didn’t get. He had to struggle.”
“Eventually the boys reached a conclusion after their research,” wrote Patterson.
“He didn’t get it because he was Indian,” Morgan assistant
Underwood wrote:
“Oklahombi is one of the many Native Americans who have honorably served their country.
“According to the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Native Americans have participated in each of America’s major military encounters since the Revolutionary War.
“The museum website notes that Native Americans have served in the armed forces at one of the highest rates per capita of all population groups, with approximately 31,000 American Indian and Alaska Native men and women currently serving around the world and 133,000 Native American veterans alive today.”
“American Indians were members of the first U.S. combat units to reach France in 1917; they fought in every critical engagement until the war ended in 1918. About 5 percent of Native American soldiers were killed, compared to 1 percent of U.S. forces as a whole.
“Indigenous people fought during World War I to demonstrate their patriotism, prove themselves in battle, and defend democracy in Europe. After the war, many expected the United States to reward their service by extending citizenship to all Native people and by respecting tribal lands and autonomy. Congress granted citizenship in 1924, but Native people would have to fight in other American wars before the federal government adopted a policy of tribal self-determination.
“On Friday [on Veteran’s Day], the National Museum of the American Indian hosted a grand procession and ceremony for the dedication of the National Native American Veterans Memorial,” according to Native News Online.
More than 1,500 Native [American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian] veterans participated in a grand procession through the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
“The memorial honors Native American veterans and their families, and educates the public about their extraordinary contributions,” wrote Darren Thompson. “The memorial is the first national landmark in the nation’s capital to commemorate the military contributions of American Indians, Alaskan Natives and Native HHawai.
In a conversation on NPR’s KPCC, Cynthia Chavez Lamar, who directs the National Museum of the American Indian, and is a member of the San Felipe Pueblo and the first Native woman to head a Smithsonian museum, said, “Unfortunately, in American society, you know, American Indians are pretty invisible.”
“The memorial is one way to represent, to make us visible.”
“We've lost lands. We've been disenfranchised in different ways. But at the end of the day, you know, we're going to fight for this country.”
The memorial celebrates warriors who defended their land and their people, according to Quil Lawrence of NPR News, quoting, Oklahoma artist, Vietnam veteran and Cheyenne and Arapaho nation member Harvey Phillip Pratt, who designed the monument
“Their blood is spilt all over this land,” said Pratt. “And we have spilt Native American blood all over this earth defending this land. And that - we will continue to defend it.”
Like Joseph Oklahombi.
“Private Joseph Oklahombi, a member of the Choctaw Nation, is one of the most decorated war heroes from Oklahoma,” wrote Underwood. “However, most of his contributions were unknown until after his death.”
“He didn’t enlist to be a hero; he did it because he loved his country,” said Watkpetition to Congress [see in comments] was submitted by Anthony Two Hawks Charoensook, stating, “Oklahombi was recognized as Oklahoma’s Greatest Hero even at the time the members of the Choctaw Nation were NOT U.S. citizens.
“We are asking Congress to honor and award Joseph Oklahombi the Medal of Honor he deserves for his contributions to The United States of America during World War 1.”
As of 11/12/2022, there have been 411 signers.
