[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 72 (Thursday, June 8, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1071]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 REMEMBERING THE LIFE OF WORLD WAR II NAVAJO CODE TALKER, ROBERT YAZZIE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JIM COOPER

                              of tennessee

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 8, 2006

  Mr. COOPER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Robert 
Yazzie, a remarkable American who served his Nation with great courage 
and honor as a code talker during World War II. We lost a great 
Tennessean, veteran and patriot when Mr. Yazzie passed away on Memorial 
Day--Monday, May 31, 2006--at the age of 81.
  Robert H. Yazzie was born on June 1, 1924 in Arizona and grew up in 
an Episcopal orphanage on a Navajo Indian reservation. At the age of 
17, he enlisted in the Marines to serve as a code talker in World War 
II. Yazzie and the other code talkers developed a code based on their 
native language for military communications in battles with Japan. They 
used the code in telephone and radio messages to transmit commands, 
tactics and troop movements. The Navajo code was used in every Marine 
assault in the Pacific and played a large role in the U.S. victories at 
Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Iwo Jima and other major battles in the Pacific 
between 1942 and 1945. It was never once decoded by the Japanese.
  After the war, Mr. Yazzie was discharged as a Private First Class in 
1945. He married Carrie A. Yazzie of Gainsboro, TN and moved to 
Nashville in the early 1950's. He raised a family while earning an 
honest living as a welder. Mr. Yazzie battled diabetes for the last 35 
years of his life and suffered heart problems and a blood infection. He 
passed away peacefully at his home in Madison, TN.
  Mr. Yazzie was always very humble about his contributions to the war 
effort, ``We just sent messages,'' he said in 2003. ``We were sending 
codes on the radio, and we would just talk on the radio using my 
language.''
  Because the code talkers were considered such valuable assets to the 
military after the war, they never received public recognition for 
their contributions in the Pacific. Finally, in 1992, Mr. Yazzie was 
among 35 Navajo code talkers to receive official recognition for their 
service from the Pentagon outside of Washington, D.C. In addition, I 
had the great honor of awarding Mr. Yazzie a Congressional Silver Medal 
for Distinguished Service at a special ceremony in Nashville on July 4, 
2003.
  I am proud to salute the remarkable life and contributions of Mr. 
Robert Yazzie and his legacy of courage and patriotism that will live 
on. On behalf of the Fifth District of Tennessee, I offer my most 
sincere condolences to his family--Bruce M. Yazzie, Martha Prater, 
Marjorie Lowe, Charlie Burris and Harvey Lee Burris--and the loved ones 
he leaves behind.

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