AMERICAN INDIANS AND WORLD WAR II
Some 44,000 American Indians served in the United States military during World War II. The number includes over 24,000 residents of reservations and around 20,000 of those who did not live on reservations (thus the number closer to 25,000 is sometimes misleadingly cited). At the time, this was one-third of all able-bodied Indian men from 18 to 50 years of age and 10% of all Indian population. Described as the first large-scale exodus of indigenous peoples from the reservations since the removals of the 19th century, the men's service with the US military in the international conflict was a turning point in American Indian history.
The overwhelming majority of American Indians welcomed the opportunity to serve. The enlistment rate was 40% higher than those drafted. War Department officials noted that if the entire population had enlisted in the same proportion as American Indians, the response would have rendered the draft unnecessary. Whether it was due to innate skill as warriors or merely as a reflection of the stereotype of the American Indian warrior spirit perpetuated by American popular culture, American Indian men were generally highly regarded for their military service in World War II.
The resulting increase in contact with the world outside of the reservation system brought profound changes to American Indian culture. "The war," said the U.S. Indian Commissioner in 1945, "caused the greatest disruption of Native life since the beginning of the reservation era," affecting the habits, views, and economic well-being of tribal members. The most significant of these changes was the opportunity—as a result of wartime labor shortages—to find well-paying work in cities, and many people relocated to urban areas, particularly on the West Coast with the buildup of the defense industry.
AMERICAN INDIANS IN THE SERVICE
American Indians first saw action in the Pacific Theater along with the rest of the American army and navy. Over the course of the war, American Indian men fought across the world on all fronts, and were involved in many of the most critical battles involving American troops, including Iwo Jima, the Invasion of Normandy, the Liberation of the Philippines, the Battle of the Bulge, the Liberation of Paris, and the Liberation of Belgium. American Indians were also among the first Americans to enter Germany and played a role in the Liberation of Berlin. Casualty reports showed American Indians fighting as far away as Australia, North Africa, and Bataan. Around 800 American Indian women worked as nurses and supported the military as administrators.
More than 30 American Indians were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the third-highest aviation honor. Not counting the Purple Heart, more than two hundred military awards were given to American Indian soldiers. Many military awards offered to American Indian soldiers were later used during the termination period by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as proof that American Indians were eager to assimilate into white mainstream American culture.
CODE TALKERS
In February 1942, a white civilian named Philip Johnston came up with the idea of using the Navajo language as military code. Johnston, a missionaries' son, grew up on a reservation and understood the complexity of the Navajo language. By September 1942, the American government had recruited several hundred American Indians who spoke both Navajo and English to translate English words into the Navajo language to avoid enemy interception. Until its declassification in 1968, the code that these Navajo developed remains the only oral military code to never have been broken by an enemy.
The code itself was composed of carefully selected Navajo words that used poetic circumlocution so that even a Navajo speaker would not be able to understand the commands without proper training. In 2001, the 28 members of the Navajo Code Breakers were awarded a Congressional Gold Medal, mostly posthumously.
While the term code talkers is strongly associated with the bilingual Navajo speakers, code talking was pioneered by Cherokee and Choctaw Indians during World War I. Other American Indian code talkers were deployed by the United States Army during World War II, including Lakota, Meskwaki, and Comanche soldiers.
POSTWAR CHANGES
The war's aftermath, says historian Allison Bernstein, marked a "new era in Indian affairs" and turned "American Indians" into "Indian Americans." Upon returning to America after the war, some American Indian soldiers suffered from PTSD and unemployment. Many moved to cities rather than returned to reservations. In 1940, only 5 percent of Native Americans lived in cities. By 1950, this number had ballooned to nearly 20 percent of American Indians living in urban areas off of reservations.
Military service and urban residency contributed to the rise of American Indian activism, particularly after the 1960s and the occupation of Alcatraz Island (1969–1971) by a student Indian group from San Francisco. In the same period, the American Indian Movement (AIM) was founded in Minneapolis, and chapters were established throughout the country, where American Indians combined spiritual and political activism. Political protests gained national media attention and the sympathy of the American public.
General MacArthur with American Indian troops
Douglas MacArthur meeting five American Indian troops serving in the US Army Signal Corps, late 1943.