[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 130 (Friday, September 27, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1395]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   REMEMBERING MR. NELSON DRAPER, SR.

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                             HON. PAUL COOK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 27, 2013

  Mr. COOK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember Mr. Nelson Draper, 
Sr. of Barstow California who passed away on Sunday September 22, 2013.
  After being recruited to join the U.S. Marine Corps in 1944, Draper 
joined the ranks of 420 others who used their native language to aid 
the United States military in World War II. At the age of 25, Draper 
left his home on the Navaho Indian Reservation in Chinle, Arizona to 
become a Navajo Code Talker. At the time of his passing, aged 93, Mr. 
Draper was the sole Code Talker veteran in San Bernardino County. The 
Navajo language was chosen as a secret weapon in the United States' war 
efforts because it was impossible for a non-Navajo speaker to learn and 
it had no written form. Before the use of Code Talkers, it would take 
military personnel up to two hours to encrypt and decipher secret 
codes. In 2001, Draper was recognized with one of the highest awards 
bestowed by this body, the Congressional Silver Medal. After his 
retirement from the Marine Corps, Mr. Draper and his wife moved to 
Barstow where he worked at the Marines Corps logistics base for more 
than thirty years.
  Today, I join with the City of Barstow and the whole country in 
remembering a great Marine, citizen, and family man. My thoughts and 
prayers are with Draper's wife, Lena, their seven children, thirty-five 
grandchildren, and forty-nine great grandchildren.

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