II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2408

To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of the Congress

to the Navajo Code Talkers in recognition of their contributions to

the Nation.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 12, 2000

Mr. BINGAMAN (for himself and Mr. INOUYE) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

A BILL

To authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf

of the Congress to the Navajo Code Talkers in recognition of their contributions to the Nation.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Honoring the Navajo

5 Code Talkers Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds the following:
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1 (1) On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Em2 pire attacked Pearl Harbor and war was declared by

3 Congress the following day.

4 (2) The military code, developed by the United

5 States for transmitting messages, had been deci6 phered by the Japanese and a search by U.S. Intel7 ligence was made to develop new means to counter

8 the enemy.

9 (3) The United States government called upon

10 the Navajo Nation to support the military effort by

11 recruiting and enlisting twenty-nine (29) Navajo

12 men to serve as Marine Corps Radio Operators; the

13 number of enlistees later increased to over three14 hundred and fifty.

15 (4) At the time, the Navajos were second-class

16 citizens, and they were a people who were discour17 aged from using their own language.

18 (5) The Navajo Marine Corps Radio Operators,

19 who became known as the Navajo Code Talkers,

20 were used to develop a code using their language to

21 communicate military messages in the Pacific.

22 (6) To the enemy’s frustration, the code devel23 oped by these Native Americans proved to be un24 breakable and was used extensively throughout the

25 Pacific theater.
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1 (7) The Navajo language, discouraged in the

2 past, was instrumental in developing the most sig3 nificant and successful military code of the time. At

4 Iwo Jima alone, they passed over 800 error-free

5 messages in a 48-hour period;

6 (A) So successful, that military com7 manders credited the Code in saving the lives of

8 countless American soldiers and the successful

9 engagements of the U.S. in the battles of Gua10 dalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Oki11 nawa;

12 (B) So successful, that some Code Talkers

13 were guarded by fellow marines whose role was

14 to kill them in case of imminent capture by the

15 enemy; and

16 (C) So successful, that the code was kept

17 secret for 23 years after the end of World War

18 II.

19 (8) Following the conclusion of World War II,

20 the U.S. Department of Defense maintained the se21 crecy of the Navajo code until it was declassified in

22 1968; only then did a realization of the sacrifice and

23 valor of these brave Native Americans emerge from

24 history.
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S 2408 IS

1 SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL.

2 (a) PRESENTATION AUTHORIZED.—The President is

3 authorized to award to each of the original twenty-nine

4 Navajo Code Talkers, or a surviving family member, on

5 behalf of the Congress, a gold medal of appropriate design,

6 honoring the Navajo Code Talkers. The President is fur7 ther authorized to award to each man who qualified as

8 a Navajo Code Talker (MOS 642), or a surviving family

9 member, a silver medal with suitable emblems and devices.

10 These medals are to express recognition by the United

11 States of America and its citizens in honoring the Navajo

12 Code Talkers who distinguished themselves in performing

13 a unique, highly successful communications operation that

14 greatly assisted in saving countless lives and in hastening

15 the end of World War II in the Pacific.

16 (b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.—For the purposes of the

17 award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of the

18 Treasury (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Secretary’’) shall

19 strike a gold medal with suitable emblems, devices, and

20 inscriptions, to be determined by the Secretary.

21 SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.

22 The Secretary may strike and sell duplicates in

23 bronze of the gold medal struck pursuant to section 2

24 under such regulations as the Secretary may prescribe,

25 and at a price sufficient to cover the costs thereof, includ-
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1 ing labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead

2 expenses, and the cost of the gold medal.

3 SEC. 5. STATUS AS NATIONAL MEDALS.

4 The medals struck pursuant to this Act are national

5 medals for purposes of chapter 51, of title 31, United

6 States Code.

7 SEC. 6. FUNDING.

8 (a) AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS.—There is

9 authorized to be charged against the United States Mint

10 Public Enterprise Fund an amount not to exceed $30,000

11 to pay for the costs of the medals authorized by this Act.

12 (b) PROCEEDS OF SALE.—Amounts received from the

13 sale of duplicate bronze medals under section 3 shall be

14 deposited in the United States Mint Public Enterprise

15 Fund.

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