Levi Oakes

Louis Levi Oakes (January 23, 1925 – May 28, 2019) was a Canadian-born Mohawk code talker who served in the United States Army and member of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation. He was the last living Mohawk code talker.

Early Years and Military Service in World War II

Oakes was born on January 23, 1925, on the Quebec side of the Akwesasne Reserves that straddles along Quebec, Ontario and New York.[1]

He worked as a steel worker in Buffalo, New York, and enlisted in the United States Army in 1944. He served with the 442nd Signal Heavy Construction Battalion in Western New Guinea, then Luzon, Philippines and finally in the post-war occupation of Japan before ending his service in 1946.

Post War and later years

After the war he returned to work as a steel worker at construction sites in Buffalo and New York City. After three decades in Buffalo Oakes returned to the Akwesasne Reserves to work on equipment in road construction projects. Oakes died in Snye, Quebec on May 28, 2019.[2]

Oakes received a Silver Star.

Personal

Oakes was married and had 10 children. His brother Sam Oakes also served in the Pacific War not far from where he was stationed.[1]

Awards
gollark: Ooo, an animated version? Neat!
gollark: I think it will probably still be somewhat bad for a while, given that quite a lot of people are just not working right now.
gollark: There are some web serials I like as well as regular books. No idea what my favourite of either category is. I am bad at picking those.
gollark: I really do not care.
gollark: I think my biggest book is one of the Mistborn ones, they're 700 pages or something.

References
  1. "Levi Oakes, last WWII Mohawk Code Talker, dead at 94". Globe and Mail. May 30, 2019.
  2. "Last surviving Mohawk code talker from WWII dies at 94". Montreal Gazette. May 29, 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.