Canadian Code Talker Charles “Checker” Tomkins

Video National Geographic During World War II, Charles “Checker” Tomkins fought the enemy with a different kind of weapon. As a code talker in the Canadian military, he used his knowledge of the native Cree language to help develop a top-secret communication system to defeat the Germans.

Code talkers were First Nations soldiers in World War II who spoke Cree. They were the Canadian military’s secret weapon: when the military needed to communicate sensitive or secret messages, they would use code talkers to send the message in Cree to another code talker who would translate it back into English. Courtesy Canadian VA

If the message was heard by the German army, they wouldn’t be able to understand the message because they had no idea what language the code was in!

Who were the code talkers?

Because the code talkers were sworn to secrecy about their jobs, no one really knows much about who they were. But the most famous Canadian code talker was a man named Charles Tomkins, but everyone called him Checker.

Checker was a Métis man from Alberta who spoke Cree. He joined the military in 1940 and after six months of training, was sent to Britain. One day, he was summoned by the Canadian High Command and not even his commanding officer — his boss — knew why! Checker was told about a top secret, new mission that they wanted him to be part of — The Cree Code Talker Program for the Air Force.
 

Charles’ brothers, Smokey and James Tomkins. (photo provided courtesy of Cree Code Talker / Tomkins Family)

The Cree language didn’t have words for things like tank or machine gun so new words had to be made up. Like calling a Mosquito bomber a sakimes (Cree for mosquito).

Code talkers were so top secret that their own families didn’t even know what they were doing! Checker didn’t tell anyone (including his brothers) until he was interviewed about it at the age of 85.