Several tribes were represented by code talkers. in wwI, the Cherokee and Choctaw were represented, even before they were ‘citizens’ or allowed to vote.
[snip]
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2008_cr/hr4544.html
During the Second Battle of the Somme in September of 1918, and later
during the Meuse-Argonne campaign in the waning days of the war,
Cherokee and Choctaw natives used their own language to communicate
tactical information. Since their languages were not related to any
European language, the Germans intercepting it were baffled, even
though the code itself was rather simple—a tank was a turtle, for
example.
Again, in the Second World War, Native Americans signed up in large
numbers to fight in both Europe and in the Pacific theater. The best
known of these were the Navajos, who worked with the Marines in the
Pacific. But considering both wars, code talkers came from as many as
17 different tribes.
It is estimated that 12,000
Native Americans served in our Armed Forces during World War I and over
45,000 bravely fought during World War II. Among those was a small band
of Choctaw Indians that were the beginning of what would become the
Native American Code Talkers.
CODE TALKERS RECOGNITION ACT OF 2008
My Dad was a Radio Man in the 45th Infantry Division, the Thunderbird Division, originally a National Guard unit out of the Southwest. He was with them from North Africa, Sicily, Salerno and Anzio where he was wounded just after.
Dad was Portuguese decent from Provincetown, Mass. He said he was drunk and ended up on the wrong train.
Anyway..Dad understood Italian but he always had to have a Native-American with him to do the talking on the radio.