[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 99 (Thursday, June 13, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3470-S3471]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                REMEMBERING PRIVATE WILLIAM TULLY BROWN

  Mr. UDALL. Mr. President, Today I wish to honor Private William Tully 
Brown, a Navajo code talker who never considered himself an American 
hero but who was.
  Private Brown enlisted in the Marines in 1944 and was trained as a 
code talker at Camp Pendleton. Training was intense. The code talkers 
underwent extensive training in communications and in memorizing the 
complex code that included Navajo words used for 450 military terms 
that didn't exist in the Navajo or Dine language.
  Private Brown was part of the Second Marine Division. In July 1945, 
he shipped out of San Diego to Pearl Harbor, then to Saipan in the 
Mariana Islands, and finally to Nagasaki and Sasebo on the island of 
Kyushu, Japan's most southern main island. They landed in Nagasaki's 
harbor on September

[[Page S3471]]

23 with the mission of occupying the island. They were armed in full 
combat kit with fixed bayonets and full magazines. They didn't know 
what to expect from the defeated Japanese. Nagasaki had been bombed on 
August 9 and was devastated. Private Brown's division, along with other 
troops, successfully and peacefully secured the area in short order.
  Our Nation owes a great debt to the Navajo code talkers. They 
transmitted thousands and thousands of strategic military messages 
during World War II, but their code was never broken. Their skill, 
bravery, and commitment to country were integral to winning the war.
  Private Brown, like so many of our code talkers, was humble and 
modest about the courage he showed during the war. While Private Brown 
did not consider himself a hero, I do, and so does our country, which 
is why he and his fellow code talkers were awarded the Congressional 
Silver Medal in 2001 for defending the freedoms and liberties we enjoy 
today.
  Private Brown lived a long and productive life. After the war, he 
married Sarah Francis and fathered five children. He has 3 surviving 
children--Romero Brown, Vee Browne-Yellowhair, and Julie Brown--and 44 
grandchildren an 2 great-great-grandchildren.
  Private Brown served his country, his community, and his family. We 
can ask no more of anyone. He is part of an American legacy.

                          ____________________