[2022-11-11] Remembering Charles Tomkins
I always find Remembrance Day sobering. Thinking about the thousands of people who died in various wars and conflicts makes me sad, and reminds me of the fragility of life.
I take solace in stories, like that of Canadian John McCrae, author of "In Flanders Fields," and the 100th anniversary of the poppy in Canada.
For this year's Remembrance Day, I feature the story of Charles "Checker" Marvin Tomkins, a Métis Cree speaker who served in the Second World War. Tomkins was a Cree code talker who was part of a military intelligence unit made up of Indigenous service people. As told in a Reader's Digest Canada article about Canadian heroes you may not have heard of, Tomkins grew up in Grouard, Alberta, and enlisted in the Canadian forces in 1939.
Stationed in England in 1940, he was tasked with "encrypting" messages into Cree. These would then be sent elsewhere in the field, where another Cree code talker would translate the information back into English. Tomkins and his fellow Indigenous encryption officers played an integral role in transmitting intelligence and protecting the troops.
We get more details about Tomkins in Legion, Canada's Military History Magazine:
Tomkins learned Cree from his parents and grandparents. He enlisted in 1939, trained and was sent overseas where he was assigned to the 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade.
In 1942, he received a mysterious summons to headquarters. When he arrived, the room was full of Indigenous soldiers who were put into different rooms, connected by telephone, and given messages to translate to and from English and Cree.
Tomkins became a Cree code talker, seconded to the American air force and charged with coding and decoding secret messages that would baffle and befuddle the enemy if intercepted.
Tompkins was so good at keeping secrets that his family didn't know of his role in the Second World War until documentary filmmakers from the Smithsonian Institution came calling just a few months before Tomkins' death in 2003. Tomkins is the subject of the 2016 short documentary Cree Code Talker. In both the documentary and an entry in The Canadian Encyclopedia, "Charles and the other code talkers are credited with having helped the Allies win the war." In the documentary, we hear Tomkins say on 2003 recordings with the Smithsonian Institution, "I love my country and I've done everything they've asked me to do." Rest in peace Charles "Checker" Marvin Tomkins.
Lest we forget.
