Joseph Oklahombi
Joseph Oklahombi (May 1, 1895, Bokchito, Bryan County, Oklahoma - April 13, 1960) was an American soldier of the Choctaw nation.[1] He was the most-decorated World War I soldier from Oklahoma. He served in Company D, First Battalion, 141st Regiment, Seventy-first Brigade of the Thirty-sixth Infantry Division during World War I, where he was one of the Choctaw code talkers.
On October 8, 1918, Private Oklahombi was at St. Etienne, France. He and 23 other soldiers attacked an enemy position and captured 171 Germans while killing some 79 more. They held their position for four days while under attack. [2] Oklahombi was awarded the Silver Star with Victory Ribbon, and the Croix de Guerre from France's Marshal Henri-Philippe Petain. At the time the members of the Choctaw nation were not formally U.S. citizens.[3]
Oklahombi was married and had a son. He was killed on 13 April 1960 when hit by a truck while walking along a road, and was buried with military honors.