[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 123 (Monday, July 23, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5126-S5127]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     REMEMBERING TEDDY DRAPER, SR.

  Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, today I wish to pay tribute to Teddy 
Draper, Sr.--a brave Navajo code talker and a beloved teacher who has 
helped keep the Navajo language alive.
  Mr. Draper was born in Canyon del Muerto--a beautiful and ancient 
canyon within the Canyon del Chelly National Monument--near Chinle, AZ. 
Mr. Draper was a longtime and popular Chinle resident and passed away 
December 14, 2017, at age 96. He was one of the last Navajo code talker 
survivors.
  As a young boy, Mr. Draper grew up speaking Navajo and helping his 
family

[[Page S5127]]

raise cattle, sheep, and turkeys in Canyon del Muerto. He didn't attend 
school until age 14. ``I barely knew a word of English,'' he said. At 
that time, the reservation's U.S. Government-run boarding school in 
Fort Wingate, NM, punished students for speaking Navajo. Time after 
time, ``I had to kneel in the corner,'' he said, and he tried to run 
away.
  The Marines recruited Mr. Draper from high school to join the Navajo 
code talkers. He served in the Fifth Marine Division and fought at Iwo 
Jima.
  Iwo Jima was a critically strategic battle for the Allies. The island 
served as a Japanese air base and safe haven for naval units, and the 
Allies wanted to secure it to support bombing missions and emergency 
air landings. During the first 2 days of the 36-day battle, six Navajo 
code talkers worked around the clock, sending and receiving more than 
800 messages--all without error. According to Marine division signal 
officer Major Howard Connor, ``Were it not for the Navajo, the Marines 
would never have taken Iwo Jima.''
  During the battle, a bomb on Mount Suribachi killed two of his fellow 
soldiers and cost Mr. Draper most of his hearing. Atop that same mount, 
Mr. Draper radioed, on February 25, 1945, ``We have raised the flag; we 
have taken the hill.'' The ``first raising of the flag'' on Mount 
Suribachi is famously memorialized in a wartime photograph and by the 
Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, VA.
  After the war, Mr. Draper volunteered for occupation duty, and became 
so fluent in Japanese that he served as an interpreter. Mr. Draper 
said, ``When I was going to boarding school, the U.S. government told 
us not to speak Navajo, but during the war, they wanted us to speak 
it!'' During combat, he determined that ``if I can get back to the 
reservation safely, I want to become a Navajo language teacher and 
educate young Navajos.'' That is exactly what he did. Mr. Draper 
dedicated himself to preserving the Navajo language--Dine bizaad--
teaching many years at Rough Rock Community High School. He lacked 
teaching materials, and so he created his own, producing a curriculum 
and two workbooks that continue to be the staple of many Navajo 
language classes today.
  Despite his loss of hearing from the war, Mr. Draper was not awarded 
the Purple Heart until 2004, after years of appeals. In 2001, he 
received the Congressional Silver Medal, along with other Navajo code 
talkers. In 2013, he received the Arizona Indian Living Treasures 
Award.
  Mr. Draper leaves 12 children, 57 grandchildren, and more than 20 
great-grandchildren. Mr. Draper also leaves a remarkable legacy of 
commitment to country and community, and I honor his life today.

                          ____________________