[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2408 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2408

   To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of the 
      Congress to the Navajo Code Talkers in recognition of their 
                      contributions to the Nation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 12, 2000

  Mr. Bingaman (for himself and Mr. Inouye) introduced the following 
 bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, 
                       Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of the 
      Congress to the Navajo Code Talkers in recognition of their 
                      contributions to the Nation.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Honoring the Navajo Code Talkers 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Empire attacked Pearl 
        Harbor and war was declared by Congress the following day.
            (2) The military code, developed by the United States for 
        transmitting messages, had been deciphered by the Japanese and 
        a search by U.S. Intelligence was made to develop new means to 
        counter the enemy.
            (3) The United States government called upon the Navajo 
        Nation to support the military effort by recruiting and 
        enlisting twenty-nine (29) Navajo men to serve as Marine Corps 
        Radio Operators; the number of enlistees later increased to 
        over three-hundred and fifty.
            (4) At the time, the Navajos were second-class citizens, 
        and they were a people who were discouraged from using their 
        own language.
            (5) The Navajo Marine Corps Radio Operators, who became 
        known as the Navajo Code Talkers, were used to develop a code 
        using their language to communicate military messages in the 
        Pacific.
            (6) To the enemy's frustration, the code developed by these 
        Native Americans proved to be unbreakable and was used 
        extensively throughout the Pacific theater.
            (7) The Navajo language, discouraged in the past, was 
        instrumental in developing the most significant and successful 
        military code of the time. At Iwo Jima alone, they passed over 
        800 error-free messages in a 48-hour period;
                    (A) So successful, that military commanders 
                credited the Code in saving the lives of countless 
                American soldiers and the successful engagements of the 
                U.S. in the battles of Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo 
                Jima, and Okinawa;
                    (B) So successful, that some Code Talkers were 
                guarded by fellow marines whose role was to kill them 
                in case of imminent capture by the enemy; and
                    (C) So successful, that the code was kept secret 
                for 23 years after the end of World War II.
            (8) Following the conclusion of World War II, the U.S. 
        Department of Defense maintained the secrecy of the Navajo code 
        until it was declassified in 1968; only then did a realization 
        of the sacrifice and valor of these brave Native Americans 
        emerge from history.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

    (a) Presentation Authorized.--The President is authorized to award 
to each of the original twenty-nine Navajo Code Talkers, or a surviving 
family member, on behalf of the Congress, a gold medal of appropriate 
design, honoring the Navajo Code Talkers. The President is further 
authorized to award to each man who qualified as a Navajo Code Talker 
(MOS 642), or a surviving family member, a silver medal with suitable 
emblems and devices. These medals are to express recognition by the 
United States of America and its citizens in honoring the Navajo Code 
Talkers who distinguished themselves in performing a unique, highly 
successful communications operation that greatly assisted in saving 
countless lives and in hastening the end of World War II in the 
Pacific.
    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purposes of the award referred to 
in subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (in this Act referred 
to as the ``Secretary'') shall strike a gold medal with suitable 
emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.

SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

    The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold 
medal struck pursuant to section 2 under such regulations as the 
Secretary may prescribe, and at a price sufficient to cover the costs 
thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and 
overhead expenses, and the cost of the gold medal.

SEC. 5. STATUS AS NATIONAL MEDALS.

    The medals struck pursuant to this Act are national medals for 
purposes of chapter 51, of title 31, United States Code.

SEC. 6. FUNDING.

    (a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to be 
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund an amount 
not to exceed $30,000 to pay for the costs of the medals authorized by 
this Act.
    (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate 
bronze medals under section 3 shall be deposited in the United States 
Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
                                 <all>