SEC. 2. EXPRESSION OF RECOGNITION. 
The purposes of the medals authorized by this Act 
are to express recognition by the United States and the 
Congress and to honor the Native American Code Talkers 
who distinguished themselves in performing highly suc-
cessful communications operations of a unique type that 
greatly assisted in saving countless lives and in hastening 
the end of World War I and World War II. 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) When the United States entered World War 
I, Indian people of the United States were not ac-
corded the status of citizens of the United States. 
(2) Without regard to this lack of citizenship, 
members of Indian Tribes and nations enlisted in 
the Armed Forces to fight on behalf of their native 
land. 
(3) The first reported use of American Indian 
Code Talkers was on October 17, 1918. 
(4) The Choctaw Code Talkers in World War I 
were the first Code Talkers that played a role in 
American military operations and transmitted vital 
communications that helped defeat German forces in 
Europe in World War I. 
(5) Because the language used by the Choctaw 
soldiers in the transmission of information was not 
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based on a European language or on a mathematical 
progression, the Germans were unable to understand 
any of the transmissions. 
(6) This was the first time in modern warfare 
that such transmission of messages in a native lan-
guage was used for the purpose of confusing the 
enemy. 
(7) On December 7, 1941, the Japanese Em-
pire attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and Congress 
declared war the following day. 
(8) The United States Government called upon 
the Comanche Nation to support the military effort 
during World War II by recruiting and enlisting Co-
manche men to serve in the United States Army to 
develop a secret code based on the Comanche lan-
guage. 
(9) During World War II, the United States 
employed Native American Code Talkers who devel-
oped secret means of communication based on Na-
tive languages and who were critical to winning the 
war. 
(10) The Army recruited about 50 Native 
Americans for such special communication assign-
ments and the Marines recruited several hundred 
Navajos for duty in the Pacific. 
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(11) In 2001, Congress and President Bush 
honored the Navajo Code Talkers with congressional 
gold medals for their contributions to the United 
States Armed Forces as radio operators during 
World War II. 
(12) It is time for Congress to give all Native 
American Code Talkers the recognition they deserve 
for their contributions to United States victories in 
World War I and World War II. 
(13) Soldiers from the Assiniboine, Cherokee, 
Cheyenne, Chippewa/Oneida, Choctaw, Comanche, 
Cree, Crow, Hopi, Kiowa, Menominee, Meskwaki, 
Mississauga, Muscogee, Osage, Pawnee, Sac and 
Fox, Seminole, and Sioux (Lakota and Dakota) In-
dian Tribes and nations served as Code Talkers dur-
ing World War II. 
(14) To the enemy’s frustration, the code devel-
oped by these Native American Indians proved to be 
unbreakable and was used extensively throughout 
the European theater. 
(15) The heroic and dramatic contributions of 
the Native American Code Talkers was instrumental 
in driving back Axis forces across the Pacific during 
World War II. 
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SEC. 4. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDAL. 
(a) AWARDS AUTHORIZED.—The Speaker of the 
House of Representatives and the President pro tempore 
of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the 
award, on behalf of the Congress, of a single gold medal 
of appropriate design in honor of the Native American 
members of the United States Armed Forces, collectively, 
who served as Code Talkers in any foreign conflict in 
which the United States was involved during the 20th 
Century. 
(b) DESIGN AND STRIKING.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—For the purposes of the 
award referred to in subsection (a), the Secretary of 
the Treasury (hereafter in this Act referred to as the 
‘‘Secretary’’) shall strike a gold medal with suitable 
emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be determined 
by the Secretary. 
(2) DESIGNS
OF
MEDALS
EMBLEMATIC
OF 
CODE
TALKER
SERVICE.—The design of the gold 
medal struck under this subsection in recognition of 
Native American Code Talkers shall be emblematic 
of the heroic and dramatic service of such Code 
Talkers. 
(3) INDIAN TRIBE DEFINED.—For purposes of 
this Act, the term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ has the same 
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meaning as in section 4 of the Indian Self-Deter-
mination and Education Assistance Act. 
(c) DISPLAY OF GOLD MEDAL.—Following the award 
of the gold medal under subsection (a), the gold medal 
shall be given to the Smithsonian Institution where it will 
be displayed as appropriate and made available for re-
search. 
(d) PRESENTATION OF DUPLICATE GOLD MEDALS 
TO TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS.—The Speaker of the House 
of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the 
Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the pres-
entation, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold duplicate 
of the gold medal awarded under subsection (a) to the gov-
ernment of each Indian tribe that the Secretary and the 
Secretary of Defense jointly determine had tribal members 
who served as Code Talkers in the United States Armed 
Forces in any foreign conflict in which the United States 
was involved during the 20th Century. 
SEC. 5. SILVER DUPLICATES FOR INDIVIDUAL CODE TALK-
ERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall strike dupli-
cates in silver of the gold medals struck under section 4 
for transmittal, in a manner to be determined by the 
Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Presi-
dent pro tempore of the Senate, to each individual identi-
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