In this episode, The Last of the Code Talkers, we’ll be sharing the story of two WWII code talkers, Louis Levi Oakes, a Mohawk Code Talker, and Charles Tomkins, a Cree Code Talker, and the unique role they played in assisting Britain – and thereby her ally, Canada, and the United States, in winning the war.
RESOURCES
Mohawk Council of Akwesasne (MCA) – Community Overview
The History of Akwesasne from Pre-Contact to Modern Times by Darren Bonaparte (Wampum Chronicles)
Code Talking: National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian Institute)
Native Words, Native Warrior (Smithsonian)
Native Languages – Living the Culture: National Museum of the American Indian (Smithsonian)
Akwesasne Mohawk Code Talkers Honored (St. Regis Mohawk Tribe Publication; pdf)
Last WWII Mohawk code talker honoured by Assembly of First Nations, House of Commons (CBC News)
Louis Levi Oakes (Canadian Encyclopedia)
Code talkers: rediscovering language and history in Akwesasne (Cornwall Standard Freeholder)
Kanien’kéha: Recognizing code talkers a part of resuscitating the language (Cornwall Standard Freeholder)
Code Talker Tribute (Mountain Lake PBS; YouTube)
Akwesasne Mohawk Code Talkers (Akwesasne TV; YouTube)
Louis Levi Oakes, Last Mohawk Code Talker Takes Last Mission (Kahnawake News)
Louis Levi Oakes Obituary (Donaldson Funeral Home)
Levi Oakes, Code Talker, receives surprise visit from Quebec MP (Indian Time)
Louis Levi Oakes, last Mohawk Code Talker receives a hero’s tribute when laid to rest in Akwesasne (Indian Country Today)
Nehiyawak (Cree) (Canadian Encyclopedia)
Cree Code Talkers (Canadian Encyclopedia)
Charles Tomkins (Canadian Encyclopedia)
Charles Tomkins Obituary (Calgary Herald)
How Cree Code Talkers From Alberta Helped Win the Second World War by Shirley Anderson (Reader’s Digest)
‘Code talker’ played heroic role (Reprinted from Calgary Herald)
Canadian Indigenous Code Talkers Remain Unacknowledged (Indigenous Corporate Training Inc)
The unbreakable Canadian “code” of the Second World War (Radio Canada International RCI)
Indigenous languages used as code in Second World War (Lookout Navy News)
Cree Code Talker (Bravofact; YouTube)
Cree language used as secret weapon in WWII (CBC News)
Indigenous war heroes – Part 2 – Second World War (Legion Magazine)