[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 14617-14618]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



             TRIBUTE TO THE ORIGINAL 29 NAVAJO CODE TALKERS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 25, 2001

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to 
the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers, who courageously served this 
country during WWII. The original 29 Navajo code talkers developed a 
Navajo language-based code to transmit information while in the Pacific 
theatre. Their efforts were invaluable to this nation and helped bring 
the war in the Pacific to a close, impacting all Americans. Today these 
men or their surviving family members are receiving Congressional gold 
medals of honor as a symbol of our Nation's appreciation for their 
valor.
  In early 1942 the Marines started to recruit Navajo men to serve as 
code talkers in the Pacific. The Marines were searching for a code, 
which the Japanese would be unable to break. Since the Navajo language 
is incredibly complex and consists of complicated syntax and tonal 
qualities, plus different dialects, it was an ideal code. The original 
29 Navajo Code Talkers developed a code dictionary, which had to be 
memorized. This code consisted of English translations of Navajo 
phrases. The Japanese were never able to break the complicated code. 
The Navajo Code Talkers successfully sent thousands of messages, 
enabling the Marines and this Nation to achieve victory.
  The war in the Pacific was brought to a close with the help of these 
original 29 Navajo code talkers and the hundreds of code talkers who 
followed. The Navajo, who bravely served this country, despite poor 
governmental treatment at home, should be commended for their service. 
I would ask my colleagues to join me, now and forever, in paying 
tribute to the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers who bravely served this 
nation. I am including an article from a recent edition of Indian 
Country Today, which recognizes the significant contributions of the 
Navajo Code Talkers.

               [From Indian Country Today, July 11, 2001]

          Navajo Code Talkers To Get Congressional Gold Medals


                True recognition a decade after heroism

                          (By Brenda Norrell)

       SANOSTEE, N.M.--The late Harrison Lapahie's Dine name Yieh 
     Kinne Yah means ``He finds things.'' His son, Harrison 
     Lapahie Jr., is honoring his father's name by finding Navajo 
     Code Talkers who will receive Congressional gold and silver 
     medals.
       Born here in Sanostee, officially in 1923 but closer 
     actually to 1928, Harrison Lapahie served in the U.S. Marines 
     using his Native tongue to transmit the code never broken by 
     the Japanese during World War II. Aircraft bombers were 
     ``Jay-Sho'' buzzards, dive-bombers were ``Gini'' chicken 
     hawks and battleships were ``Lo-Tso'' whales.
       The original 29 Navajo Code Talkers who created the code 
     will join George Washington, Robert Kennedy, Mother Teresa 
     and Nelson Mandela as recipients of the Congressional gold 
     medal, the nation's highest civilian honor.
       With beautiful piano music and galloping horses, an eagle 
     and an American flag on his Web site, Harrison Lapahie's son 
     Harry links readers worldwide to the legacy and history of 
     the Navajo warriors being honored more than half a century 
     after their heroism with their Dine-based military code.
       Charles Hedin, Navajo working in health recovery with 
     veterans in Denver, discovered the search for his uncle on 
     the Web site. The late John Willie Jr. was among the original 
     29 being sought to be honored in Washington this month.
       ``I was surfing the Web and I landed on Mr. Lapahie's Web 
     site. I didn't know Zonnie Gorman was searching for relatives 
     of Code Talkers. Filled with overwhelming pride, I called her 
     and explained that John Willie Jr. was my uncle.''
       ``We compared some notes and I also helped her to find 
     Adolf Murgursky, another Code Talker.''
       Willie did not live long enough to receive his recognition.
       ``I have mixed emotions because the recognition for my 
     uncle's war contributions has come 50 years later,'' Hedin 
     said, ``He was one of the first 29.''
       Still, he said, ``I am so proud it is hard to express the 
     feelings.''
       Like Lapahie, Zonnie Gorman honors the memory of her 
     father, Carl Nelson Gorman. The late artist, professor and 
     storyteller and

[[Page 14618]]

     father of internationally renowned artist R. C. Gorman was 
     president of the Navajo Code Talkers Association before his 
     death in 1998.
       Gorman, struggling to find the last five of the original 29 
     code talkers, said plans are being completed with the White 
     House for the award ceremony. Another ceremony later in the 
     summer on the Navajo Nation will honor nearly 400 other 
     Navajo Code Talkers with silver medals.
       Lapahie's Web site includes rare, original letters 
     concerning creation of the code and his father's original 
     maps from World War II in the Pacific, along with recognition 
     from Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.
       Bingaman introduced legislation in April 2000 and pressed 
     Congress to honor Navajo Code Talkers with gold and silver 
     medals. The bill was signed into law Dec. 21, 2000, and the 
     U.S. Mint began designing the special gold and silver medals.
       ``It has taken too long to properly recognize these 
     soldiers, whose achievements have been obscured by twin veils 
     of secrecy and time. As they approach the final chapter of 
     their lives, it is only fitting that the nation pay them this 
     honor,'' Bingaman said.
       Another secret is revealed in the House bill that describes 
     the code kept secret for 23 years and declassified in 1968.
       ``Some code talkers were guarded by fellow Marines, whose 
     role was to kill them in case of imminent capture by the 
     enemy.''
       There are also the names of others who did not live long 
     enough to be recognized, young Navajos who died in combat in 
     Okinawa, Guam, Iwo Jima and other on far away shores and 
     hilltops.
       Navajo Code Talkers killed in action were Paul Begay, 
     Johnson Housewood, Peter Johnson, Jimmy Kelly Sr., Paul 
     Kinlachcheeny, Leo Kirk, Ralph Morgan, Sam Morgan, Willie 
     Notah, Tom Singer, Alfred Tsosie, Harry Tsosie and Howard 
     Tsosie.
       In the Web tribute to his father, Lapahie says Navajos have 
     been warriors time and again since they signed the Treaty of 
     1868 with the United States.
       ``When the United States entered World War II in 1941, the 
     Navajos again left the canyons, plains and mesas of their 
     reservation homes to join the armed forces and played a 
     crucial role in such combat arenas as Guadalcanal, Saipan, 
     Bougainville, Tinian, Anzio, Salerno, Normandy, Tarawa, Iwo 
     Jima, and countless other bloody islands and forgotten 
     battlefields.''
       More than 3,600 young Navajo men and women joined the armed 
     forces during World War II.
       ``Proportionately, that figure represents one of the 
     highest percentages of total population in the armed service 
     of any ethnic group in the United States.''
       Lapahie's Web site includes his father's translation of the 
     Marine Corps Hymn into Navajo and a letter from the president 
     of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. Lt. Gen. Ron 
     Christmas writes of an upcoming print honoring the Navajo 
     Code Talkers and notes Lapahie's translation of the corps 
     hymn.
       In remembering his father, Harry said, ``There is a story 
     when Dad was strolling on one of the islands, and went into a 
     Japanese military site.''
       ``Yet he was untouched because the Japanese thought that he 
     was Japanese!''
       Harry's father died in his Los Angeles apartment Nov. 26, 
     1985, and is buried near Aztec, N.M., not far from the Ute 
     Boarding School in Ignacio, Colo., he attended as a child 
     where he learned his baking skills.

     

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