[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 86 (Wednesday, June 28, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Page S6632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING CHARLES WHITEPIPE, SR.

 Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, today I wish to honor and 
recognize a true hero and a great American. Charles I. Whitepipe, Sr., 
of Gregory, SD, passed into the spirit world at 7 on Monday evening. 
Mr. Whitepipe, a Sicangu Lakota from the Rosebud tribe, valiantly 
served in the Army as a codetalker in World War II. He served as a 
``Forward Observer'' on Japanese-held islands in the South Pacific, 
communicating by radio with a ship-based partner, using the Lakota 
language to direct artillery fire from ships at sea onto the islands.
  During World War II, about a dozen known Sioux Indians were Army 
radio operators who used their native Lakota, Nakota and Dakota 
dialects to transmit strategic messages to foil enemy surveillance in 
both the Pacific and European theaters. There is no doubt that the 
bravery and the courage of Mr. Whitepipe and the other codetalkers 
helped to make the United States the free and proud place it is today. 
While Navajos have received the most recognition, it is important to 
remember that members of at least 17 other tribes also served as 
codetalkers in World War I and World War II.
  The syntax and tonal qualities of the native languages were so 
complex that no message transmitted by any codetalker was ever decoded 
by the enemy. However, for the codetalkers who returned home there were 
no parades or special recognition, as they were sworn to secrecy, an 
oath they kept and honored, but one that robbed them of the accolades 
and place in history that they rightfully deserved.
  The accomplishments of the codetalkers were even more heroic, given 
the cultural context in which they were operating. Subjected to 
alienation in their homeland and discouraged from speaking their native 
languages, they still stepped forward and developed the most 
significant and successful military code of their time. That spirit of 
military service continues today. Native Americans make up a higher 
percentage of servicemen and servicewomen in the armed forces than any 
other ethnic group in America. They have served with honor in all of 
America's wars, beginning with the Revolutionary War and on through our 
current operations in Iraq.

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