“No greater fighting combat team has ever deployed for battle,” General Douglas McArthur noted after the war of the 158th Infantry Regiment “Bushmasters,” which was made up predominantly of Mexican Americans and members of the Pima and Navajo tribes from Arizona.

While Navajo code talkers of World War II have been featured in several books and, in 2002, a Hollywood movie, in recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day it is important to remember that members of many different tribes served in this role.

How did Mary Golda Ross, who taught high school in her native Cherokee schools, end up as a space-travel engineer?

The Executive Director of the 45th Infantry Division Museum in Oklahoma City shares insights about Native Americans in the “Thunderbird Division.”

Grace Thorpe, daughter of famed athlete Jim Thorpe, has a remarkable legacy as a veteran and champion of indigenous peoples. 

While many Americans are familiar with the idea of “code talkers,” knowledge about the fuller lives, stories, and experiences of American Indian Code Talkers is incredibly limited. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, in partnership with Native communities, wants to help change that.

A member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Ernest Childers became the first American Indian to be awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II.

The idea of using American Indians who were fluent in both their traditional tribal language and in English to send secret messages in battle was first put to the test in World War I with the Choctaw Telephone Squad and other Native communications experts and messengers. However, it wasn’t until World War II that the US military developed a specific policy to recruit and train American Indian speakers to become code talkers.