Frank Sanache, 84; Last of Meskwaki Tribe’s Code Talkers

Frank Sanache, 84, the last of the eight Meskwaki Indians who were “code talkers” for the armed forces during World War II, died Saturday in Tama, Iowa, of natural causes.

The Navajos had about 420 code talkers, who were widely known for the unbroken U.S. military code that remained classified until 1968. But 18 Native American tribes were represented among the scouts who used an amalgam of their native languages and walkie-talkies to communicate among troops.

“Windtalkers,” the 2002 film starring Nicolas Cage and Adam Beach, focused on Navajos, and President Bush awarded Congressional Gold Medals to 29 surviving Navajo code talkers in 2001. Since that time, Iowa legislators have sought recognition for the eight Meskwakis and other code talkers.

Sanache and his seven fellow tribesmen were sent to North Africa, but their small number and ineffective walkie-talkies made it difficult for them to communicate among the eight companies in their 34th Army Division. Five months after he was shipped overseas, Sanache was captured by the Germans in Tunisia.

He spent 29 months in a work camp in Hammerstein, Poland, unloading lime from rail cars, which he said scarred his lungs and caused several chronic health problems.

After liberation, Sanache returned to Tama, where he worked 38 years at a paper mill.