Last of World War II Comanche code talkers dies in Tulsa

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Charles Chibitty, the last surviving Comanche code talker from World War II, has died in Tulsa at age 83.<br/><br/>Cathy Flynn with the Comanche Nation headquarters in Lawton says

Thursday, July 21st 2005, 11:40 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Charles Chibitty, the last surviving Comanche code talker from World War II, has died in Tulsa at age 83.

Cathy Flynn with the Comanche Nation headquarters in Lawton says Chibitty died Wednesday at a Tulsa nursing home.

Chibitty was one of 20 Comanche Indians who used their native language as a code to send messages that the Germans couldn't decipher.

A group of Navajos did the same in the Pacific theater and the Choctaws served as code talkers during World War I.

Chibitty was born near Medicine Park and attended high school at Haskell Indian School in Lawrence, Kansas, before joining the Army in 1941.

He was assigned to the Fourth Infantry Division and was on Utah Beach during the D-Day invasion.

Chibitty rose to corporal and was awarded the World War Two Victory Medal, the European Theater of Operations Victory Medal, the Europe African Middle East Campaign Medal and the Good Conduct Medal.

In 1999 he received a special award from the Knowlton Award from the Army for exceptional service and outstanding intelligence work.

Funeral arrangements have yet to be made.