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Congressional Gold Medal.com |
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Congressional Gold Medal Recipients
Navajo Code Talkers
Native American Pride and Accomplishment - Courage Under Fire By war's end, some 400 Navajos had served as
Code Talkers. Thirteen were killed in action, and their names are on today's roll of honor. The Code Talkers joined 44,000
Native Americans who wore the uniform in World War II. More than 12,000
Native Americans fought in World War I. Thousands more served in
Korea,
Vietnam and serve to this very day. (George W. Bush). To help revitalize its economy, the Navajo Nation has undertaken steps to develop, strengthen and manage an even increasing tourism industry. Despite the fact that most tourists visit Arizona to see cowboys and Indians, it is estimated that only 7 percent of a nearly $550 million industry ever reaches the Navajo Nation. With the formation of the "Navajo Tourism Master Plan" it is hoped that the Navajo Nation will be able to reach more than 20% of tourism expenditures by the year 2000, creating some 5,000 jobs. During WWII the Navajo Indians were sometimes mistaken for Japanese and taken prisoner. Then they had to prove that they were Navajo. Some Navajo Code Talkers had to have an escort so they where safe from those errors. The Navajo Code Talkers were also used in Korea in the 1950's and in Vietnam in the 1960's. The Code Talkers were not nationally recognized until there was a reunion of the Fourth Marine Division Association in 1969. In 1971 President Nixon awarded a special certificate to the Code Talkers to thank them for there patriotism, resourcefulness and courage. August 14 is National Code Talkers Day, declared in 1982. President Reagan proclaimed a "National Navajo Code Talkers Day" on August 14, 1982. "There is a cruel irony here. For more than 50 years after the code talkers were able to communicate with one another over great distances in the Pacific, it is still hard to communicate between many parts of the Navajo nation itself," Clinton said during a five-hour stop on his whirlwind tour to highlight economic differences in access to education and training. Some of the code talkers stay away of events. The have eschewed parades and other commemorative ceremonies to avoid glorifying war. President Clinton signed a bill on December 21, 2000, that granted congressional gold medals to the original 29 "Code Talkers" and silver medals to about 300 Navajo soldiers who followed them to the Pacific Theater during the war.
The Gold Medal ceremony was set in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C. President Bush arrived at 1:30 p.m. The reception hosted by MGM was held at the Library of Congress from 3:00-5:00 p.m. In addition to the attendance of President Bush and the honorees and/or their families, also in attendance was Senator Jeff Bingaman, who sponsored the bill awarding the medals, as well as Windtalkers' director John Woo, Nicolas Cage, Adam Beach, and Roger Willie.
In 1942, the 29 Navajo Marines who are being honored were sent as recruits to boot camp at the Marine Recruit Depot in San Diego, California. After boot camp they were sent to Camp Elliot (modern day Marine Corps Air Station Miramar) to develop a military code based on the Navajo language. Because Navajo is an unwritten language and has such a complex structure, it was a perfect choice upon which to base a secret code. Eventually around 400 Navajo men were trained in the code's use and served as code talkers in the Pacific battles of the war. The Japanese were never able to break the code, and it became an indispensable tool for World War II military communication.
George W. Bush, Presley, Nicolas Cage and a Windtalker Because of its success and its possible use in future combat, the code wasn't declassified until 1968, and the code talkers' accomplishments went largely unheralded
The
Congressional Gold Medal is the highest civilian honor that Congress can award. The first Gold Medal recipient was
President George Washington. Other recipients include
Thomas Edison,
Rosa Parks,
Bob Hope,
Colin Powell,
Gerald and Betty Ford,
Norman Schwarzkopf, and
Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Windtalkers will be released on June 14, 2002. The film centers on the relationship between the code talkers and their fellow Marines during WWII's campaign for the Central Pacific. In the film, Marines are assigned to each code talker to protect him - and thus the code - at all costs. The gripping climax takes place during the battle for Saipan, where the Marines must capture the island while at the same time ensuring the code talkers' security. Directed by John Woo, the film stars Nicolas Cage, with co-stars Adam Beach, Peter Stormare, Noah Emmerich, Mark Ruffalo, Brian Van Holt, Frances O'Connor, Christian Slater and Roger Willie. Windtalkers was produced by John Woo, Terence Chang, Tracie Graham, and Alison Rosenzweig, from a script by John Rice and Joe Batteer.
The Navajo Code Talkers' Association (NCTA) is the official association that represents the Navajo Code Talkers. They generally meet the first Saturday of each month at the Gallup Chamber of Commerce in Gallup, New Mexico. They has an office at the Navajo Museum in Window Rock, Arizona, adjacent to the Window Rock Library, in Window Rock, Arizona. NCTA (Navajo Code Talkers Association) P.O. Box 1182 Window Rock, AZ 86515 Tel: 520-871-5468 SYNOPSIS OF THE MOVIE WINDTALKERS On December 8, 1941, the United States declared war on Japan. For the next several years, U.S. forces were fully engaged in battle throughout the Pacific, taking over islands one by one in a slow progression towards mainland Japan. During this brutal campaign, the Japanese were continually able to break coded military transmissions, dramatically slowing U.S. progress. In 1942, several hundred Navajo Americans were recruited as Marines and trained to use their language as code. In John Woo's Windtalkers, written by John Rice & Joe Batteer, Marine Joe Enders (Nicolas Cage) is assigned to protect Ben Yahzee (Adam Beach) - a Navajo code talker, the Marines' new secret weapon. Enders' orders are to protect his code talker, but if Yahzee should fall into enemy hands, he's to "protect the code at all costs." Against the backdrop of the horrific Battle of Saipan, when capture is imminent, Enders is forced to make a decision: if he can't protect his fellow Marine, can he bring himself to kill him to protect the code? The Navajo code was the only one never broken by the Japanese, and is considered to have been key in winning the war.
 BOOK - THE NAVAJO CODE TALKERS
President Richard M. Nixon "... an interesting account of that group of Marines who contributed so much to the cause of peace and freedom." The Navajo Code Talkers is the single most comprehensive account of the contribution of the Navajo native Americans in World War II. It's authentic photos and illustrations have been featured on CBS Television's "An American Portrait" series, and the book itself has been profiled on the ABC Nightly News. It is also among the select 10 percent of all books written by white men or women on the native Americans to be chosen by the Navajos for display in their tribal museum. The Navajo code talkers represented a tribe so loyal to the USA that, in spite of the fact that they were not even allowed to vote [at that time], when they heard the news of the Pearl Harbor debacle, they armed themselves with old muskets and hunting rifles and poured out of the far reaches of the reservation in great numbers. The Navajo volunteers had no idea that they would ultimately play a significant role in the prosecution of the war. In 1941, designing an effective code for wartime use based on English was impossible, since many of the Japanese could speak English fluently. And so it came about that a training camp was established at Camp Elliot (seven miles north of San Diego) for Navajos somewhat fluent in English. There, under the guidance of professionals in cryptography, a code was devised based on the Navajo native language. Eventually the code became a major tool in winning the war in the Pacific. It has been said that the use of the Navajos with their indecipherable code made possible the taking of Iwo Jima. Benis S. Frank Chief Historian US Marine Corps --This text refers to the Hardcover edition -- PRESIDENT CLINTON
President Clinton
THE PRESIDENT: "ll Americans should know of the exploits of the young Navajo men, some as young as 15, who enlisted in the Marine Corps in World War II, helped to develop an ingenious code based on your language, and became the communications link to and from the front lines of the allies in the Pacific War. One of our most enduring images of freedom is that of the Marines hoisting the American flag over Iwo Jima. ... ... But there is a cruel irony here. For more than 50 years after the Code-Talkers were able to communicate with one another, over great distances in the Pacific, it is still hard to communicate between many part of the Navajo Nation itself. In much of America, it takes just a modest amount of money and time to get someone on the Internet. But here, an astonishing 37 percent of the households are without electricity; about 70 percent without phone service; more than half without work.
I am here because I believe the new technologies like the Internet and wireless communications can have an enormous positive impact in the Navajo Nation. They can help you to leap-frog over some of the biggest hurdles to develop your economic and human potential. They can make great distances virtually disappear. They can be a vehicle for job growth, for education, for health care, for employment opportunities. They can be the greatest equalizers our society has ever known.
... But as we all know, though many of your ancestors gave up fighting and gave up land and water and mineral rights in exchange for peace, security, health care and education, the federal government did not live up to its end of the deal. That was wrong. And I have worked hard to change it. There is nothing more important to me than getting this government-to-government relationship right -- but getting it right in a way that will empower you to lift yourselves and your children, to fulfill your potential and your dreams; not a patronizing relationship, but an empowering one; not a handout, but a hand up, a genuine partnership so that your children can live their dreams. ... End
CRIME Citing a 1999 Department of Justice report, crime rates in Indian country are higher than in the rest of the United States, and poverty and inadequate crime prevention resources are among the main causes. Criminal enforcement is one of the most difficult problems tribal governments face. Federal and state government officials notified about crimes under their jurisdiction are often unresponsive, especially when the crime occurs in a remote area of Indian country, and are lackadaisical about prosecution. In the past four years, some 10,000 crimes were committed by non-Navajos on Navajo reservations. "Many crime victims live miles from federal courts. The state doesn't want to deal with them, and neither do the U.S. attorneys.
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