Marine who trained WWII Comanche code talkers dies at 86

<p>Retired Major Gen. Hugh F. Foster Jr., who trained Comanche code talkers for the Army in World War II, has died. He was 86.</p><p>Foster, of Doylestown Township, Pa., died Dec. 13 at home.</p><p>After graduating from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in 1941, he joined the 4th Signal Company of the 4th Infantry Division, responsible for maintaining Army communications. He was assigned in September 1941 to train 17 Comanche soldiers as code talkers at Fort Benning, Ga.</p><p>Foster translated modern military terms such as "bomber" and "tank" into the Comanche language, a code that made Army phone or radio messages indecipherable to eavesdropping enemy forces.</p><p>He kept a notebook filled with the code's phonetic spellings because Comanches have no written language, said his son, retired Lt. Col. Hugh F. Foster III.</p><p>The Comanches served in Europe, and were among the Allied troops landing in Normandy, France, on D-Day. Navajo code talkers served with the U.S. Marine Corps in the Pacific during the war.</p><p>Foster left the Comanches after their initial training and served the rest of World War II in North Africa and Italy. Later in life, he was made an honorary member of the Comanche Tribe and given a name meaning "Telephone Red Sash," referring to Foster's Army service and the red sashes worn by Army officers in the West in the late 1800s.</p><p>Foster also taught electrical engineering at West Point and the U.S. Naval Academy and led the 1st Signal Brigade in Vietnam.</p><p>He is survived by his wife, Mary Jane, a former Army nurse; Hugh Foster III and a second son, retired Lt. Col. Robert J. Foster.</p><p>Foster will be buried at West Point Jan. 3.</p>

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