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Guest Commentary: August 15, 2001
Honoring the Navajo Code Talkers
The Honorable Jeff Bingamam
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The "Honoring the Navajo Code Talker Act", signed into law last December, authorized the President of the United States to award gold medals to the original twenty-nine Code Talkers and silver medals, on behalf of the Congress, to each man who later qualified as a Navajo Code Talker.
These medals are to express recognition by the United States of America and its citizens of the Navajo Code Talkers who distinguished themselves in performing a unique, highly successful communications operation that greatly assisted in saving countless lives and in hastening the end of World War II in the Pacific theater.
With each new successive generation of Americans, blessed as we are in this time of relative peace and prosperity, it is easy to forget what the world was like in the early 1940's. The United States was at war in Europe, and on December 7, 1941, we were faced with a second front as the Japanese Empire attacked Pearl Harbor.
One of the intelligence weapons the Japanese military possessed was an elite group of well trained English speaking soldiers, used to intercept U.S. communications, then sabotage the message or issue false commands to ambush American troops. Military code became more and more complex – at Guadalcanal, military leaders complained that it took two and one-half hours to send and decode a single message.
But, in early 1942, Navajo recruits demonstrated the value of the Navajo language in creating a code. In one of their tests, they demonstrated that they could encode, transmit, and decode a three-line English message in just 20 seconds.
These Navajo Marines, and others that followed, became known as the Navajo Code Talkers, and used the Navajo language to develop a unique code to communicate military messages in the South Pacific. The code developed by these Native Americans proved unbreakable and was used throughout the Pacific theater.
Their accomplishment was even more heroic given the cultural context in which they were operating. Experiencing alienation in their own homeland and discouraged from speaking their own language, they still stepped forward and developed the most significant and successful military code of the time.
The Code was so successful that military commanders credited it with saving the lives of countless American soldiers and significantly contributing to the successful engagements of the U.S. in the battles of Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. But the very success of the code caused the Department of Defense to keep it classified for 23 years after the end of World War II – and there lies the reason it has taken so long to formally recognize these brave men.
If their achievements had been hailed at the conclusion of the war, proper honors would have been bestowed at that time. But the Code Talkers were sworn to secrecy, an oath they kept and honored, but at the same time, one that robbed them of the very accolades and place in history they so rightly deserved.
Their ranks include veterans of Guadalcanal, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa; they gave their lives at New Britain, Bougainville, Guam, and Peleliu. But, at the end of the war, these unsung heroes returned to their homes on buses – no parades, no fanfare, no special recognition for what they had truly accomplished – because while the war was over, their duty – their oath of secrecy – continued.
When the secrecy surrounding the code was finally declassified, only then did a realization of the sacrifice and valor of these brave Native Americans begin to emerge. ...
Of all the honors Congress can bestow, the awarding of Congressional Gold and Silver Medals is often among the most distinguished. But in this case, it's also a celebration of human ingenuity and innovation, especially when faced with what seemed to be insurmountable odds.
As a nation, we are but a product of those who have come before us, and of their accomplishments, their contributions, and their sacrifice in the struggle for freedom and democracy. Through the presentation of this distinguished award, the Congress expresses the gratitude of an entire nation to these brave and innovative veterans.
Note: The above column is adapted from a speech Senator Bingaman delivered at the Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony Honoring the Navajo Code Talkers, July 26, 2001.
 How to contact Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
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