Medal of Honor; Cpl Samuel M. Sampler and Cpl Harold L. Turner, both credited with eliminating machine gun nests and continuing an advance near St. Etienne, France on 8 October 1918 which would prepare for a major attack along the Aisne River. On 12–13 October 1918, the regiment attacked toward the line of the Aisne (Ayn) River on the right of a four regiment/two brigade attack that advanced the American line and eliminated a German salient south of the Aisne. During this campaign the numerous American Indian members of the old Oklahoma National Guard were used as telephone talkers, becoming a legend as the "Choctaw Code Talkers", presaging the "Code Talkers" of World War II. Fourteen Choctaw Indian men, trained to use their language, helped the American Expeditionary Force win several key battles in the Meuse-Argonne Campaign in France, the final big German push of the war. The fourteen Choctaw Code Talkers were Albert Billy, Mitchell Bobb, Victor Brown, Ben Caterby, James Edwards, Tobias Frazer, Ben Hampton, Solomon Louis, Pete Maytubby, Jeff Nelson, Joseph Oklahombi, Robert Taylor, Calvin Wilson, and Walter Veach. With at least one Choctaw man placed in each field company headquarters, they handled military communications by field telephone, translated radio messages into the Choctaw language, and wrote field orders to be carried by "runners" between the various companies. The German army, which captured about one out of four messengers, never deciphered the messages written in Choctaw. The Choctaws were recognized as the first to use their native language as an unbreakable code in World War I. The Choctaw language was again used in World War II. In 1919, the 3rd Infantry Regiment was called out to protect coal mining operations during threatened strikes and to enforce martial law in six southeast Oklahoma counties. The returning Eastern Oklahoma elements of the former 142nd Infantry merged during 1920–21 with the 3rd Infantry, and the resulting unit was designated in the Oklahoma National Guard as 3rd Infantry. During this time the regiment responded to a declaration of martial law in Tulsa, Oklahoma in order to restore order following the Tulsa Race Riot. 3rd Infantry was redesignated on 14 October 1921 as 180th Infantry Regiment, and assigned to the newly organized 45th Division, reuniting Oklahoma's Guardsmen with those from Arizona and New Mexico and adding Colorado as well. World War II In preparation for possible entry into World War II and