Charles Chibitty of Tulsa receives the Knowlton Award in a ceremony Tuesday at the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes. Chibitty was honored for his service as a Comanche Code Talker during World War II.
DENNIS COOK / Associated Press
The elite group is credited with saving thousands of lives.
WASHINGTON -- ``Fighting is fierce. We need help.''
That was the first message Charles Chibitty of Tulsa sent as a member of a signal company serving in Europe during World War II.
To confuse the enemy, the young Chibitty sent the message in his American Indian language.
A 78-year-old retired glass worker, today he says he is the last surviving member of the elite Comanche Code Talkers, who were credited with not only saving thousands of lives but shortening the war.
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Military experts believe the 17 Comanche Code Talkers, recruited specifically because they could speak their native language fluently, were instrumental during the historic Normandy invasion.
Code talkers were used to relay radio messages because the enemy could not decipher their language.
Chibitty was honored Tuesday in the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes.
Arthur L. Money, assistant secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence, presented him the Knowlton Award for his ``significant contributions'' to military intelligence efforts.
That award, established in 1995 by the Military Intelligence Corps Association to recognize individuals for outstanding intelligence work, is named in honor of Lt. Col. Thomas Knowlton, who served under Gen. George Washington during the American Revolution.
Chibitty also received the Citizen's Award for Exceptional Service from the U.S. Department of Interior.
Kevin Gover, a native Oklahoman and fellow Comanche who now heads the Bureau of Indian Affairs, presented that award to Chibitty and took the opportunity to note the irony of the code talkers' wartime service and the ``difficult history'' that existed between Indians and the U.S. government.
At the beginning of this century, Gover said, the BIA was dedicated to destroying native languages while the U.S. military was willing to recruit Comanches and Navajos for the war, as they did Choctaws in World War I.
Chibitty did not speak of that history in accepting the honors but did ask why the code talkers' efforts were not recognized earlier.
``When I talk about my comrades, I wonder why it took so long,'' he said.
``They are not here to enjoy what I'm getting after all these years.''
More than a decade ago, the French government honored the code talkers with the Chevalier of the National Order of Merit.
With a voice choked with emotion, Chibitty listed the others, saying something about each one.
Several suffered serious injuries during the war and later in Korea but all survived.
There was a light side to the ceremony as well.
Chibitty regaled his audience and later reporters with the way the Comanche Code Talkers got around U.S. military terms that had no Comanche equivalent as well as the German names.
``Tank'' became ``turtle,'' and ``bomber'' became ``pregnant airplane'' because it reminded the Comanche of a catfish full of eggs.
Chibitty was in the middle of his senior year at Haskell Indian School in Lawrence, Kan., when the call came for a small group of Comanches.
He told how he had to talk his mother into letting him drop out of school to join the Army.
Born near Medicine Park, in the Lawton area, Chibitty moved to Tulsa after the war.
His other military honors include the World War II Victory Medal, the European Theater of Operations (5th Bronze Star) Victory Medal, the Europe African Middle East Campaign Medal and the Good Conduct Medal.
Jim Myers, World Washington Bureau reporter, can be reached at (202) 484-1424 or via e-mail at jim.myers@tulsaworld.com .