13/06/2024
A must go if in the area!
In celebration of the many stories and contributions by the Comanche Code Talkers in the Second World War, our presentation includes Mr. Charles Chibitty and his story of a N**i flag taken in Bleialf, Germany. This item represented a particular event in his life in reference to his fellow soldier.
In his recollection at age 77 to a crowd around 200 attendees at the Historical Aviation Memorial Museum in 1998 at Tyler, Texas, Charles shared the following of his friend named Private Mullins :
"I ran and I was about halfway over and that mortar was falling. And I looked back and he was still sitting there. I ran back harder at him and he didn't do nothing. And I went back, he was still alive and I picked him up and put him on my shoulder and I forgot about all that mortar coming in. And I went on and I went down in the basement. And them other boys came and helped me take him down. And he took two deep breaths. And he was from New Jersey. And he had a picture of a wife and a little girl. I don't know whether he ever seen that little girl, but I always remember that.
And then that big artillery knocked a big part of a building off and this was hanging up there. And I climbed up there a day later. And went up there. And they had a blackboard there that showed where the American military was. You know, I guess they was there and they left it up there. And I seen others (N**i flags) in France. I didn't think much of them, but this one here, I climbed up there and got it, because my friend, that Mullins, private Mullins, was killed just right here, arm distance from me. And I carried him down to the basement, but it was too late cause medics said he got one right through the heart. So I take that flag with me to talk about my little friend, and he was from New Jersey. "
An outstanding picture of two friends and combat veterans from World War II, circa 1996. On the left is Mr. Herman Henderson and on the right is Mr. Charles Chibitty. Mr. Chibitty is showing the N**i flag taken in Europe. As both men returned home from the war around the same time, they attended a pe**te meeting on Bird Creek, north of Tulsa, Oklahoma. As the two men were seated next to one another in the tipi, they soon became lifelong friends. Photograph courtesy of Mr. Tom Fields. Additional information from Bird Creek Shawnee and from Joseph Martinez of Tyler, Texas. 80 Talker
