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Joseph Oklahombi

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Choctaw code talker
Joseph Oklahombi
Born(1895-05-01)May 1, 1895
Bokchito, Choctaw Nation,
Indian Territory
DiedApril 13, 1960(1960-04-13) (aged 64)
Wright City, Oklahoma, U.S.
Place of burialYashau Cemetery
AllegianceUnited States of America
Service / branchUnited States Army
Years of service1917–1918
RankPrivate First Class
UnitD Company, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division
Battles / warsWorld War I
AwardsCroix de Guerre
Silver Star

Joseph Oklahombi (May 1, 1895 - April 13, 1960) was a Choctaw soldier in the United States Army during the First World War. He was the most-decorated World War I soldier from Oklahoma. One of the Choctaw code talkers, he served in Company D, First Battalion, 141st Regiment, Seventy-first Brigade of the Thirty-sixth Infantry Division during World War I.

On October 8, 1918, Private Oklahombi was at Saint-Étienne, France. He and 23 other soldiers attacked an enemy position and captured 171 Germans while killing some 79 more. They held their position for four days while under attack. Oklahombi was awarded the Silver Star with Victory Ribbon, and the Croix de Guerre from France's Marshal Henri-Philippe Petain. At the time the members of the Choctaw nation were not formally U.S. citizens.

Oklahombi was married and had a son. He was killed on 13 April 1960 when hit by a truck driver while walking along a road. From Chief Gary Batton of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma:

Many of you know the story of the Choctaw Code Talkers of WWI and WWII and also the story of Code Talker Joseph Oklahombi, along with 23 other soldiers captured 171 Germans after moving 200 yards over open ground against artillery and machine gun fire, rushing a machine gun nest and capturing one of the guns. They not only turned the gun on the enemy for four days, keeping them under fire, they were without food and water those four days, killing numerous enemy soldiers until the rest surrendered. Although awarded … the Silver Star and Marshal Pétain, former Commander-in-Chief of the French Armies of the East, awarded them the Croix de Guerre, the Congressional Medal of Honor was never presented. It is a long-overdue recognition and I am working to see the Medal of Honor presented to Oklahombi and all 23 other heroes.

References

  1. "Oklahombi, Joseph (1895-1960)". Archived from the original on 2010-07-31. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
  2. "Joseph Oklahombi". www.worldwar1.com.
  3. "Choctaw Code Talkers", PBS documentary, "Choctaw Code Talkers documentary comes to public television in Fall 2010 | Choctaw Nation". Archived from the original on 2011-12-06. Retrieved 2011-12-06.
  4. Chief Gary Batton, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma - March 28, 2016 Archived September 14, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
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