12 2 STA T .47 74 PUBLIC LA W 11 0– 420 —O CT. 1 5, 200 8PublicLaw1 1 0–42 0 110 thCongres s A n Act Torequi re th ei s su anc eo fm e d a l s to reco g ni z e the dedication and v alor of N ative A merican code tal k ers .Beit e nac te dby t h e S enate and Hous eo fR e pr esentati v es of the U nited States of Am erica in C on g ress assemb l ed ,SECTION1. S H O R T TIT L E. ThisActmaybe cite d as the ‘ ‘ Co de Ta lk e r s R eco gn ition Act o f20 0 8’ ’ . SEC. 2 . PU RPOSE. The pu rpose of this Act is to re q uire the issuance of medals toe x press the sense of the Congress that —(1) the ser v ice of N ative American code talkers to the U nited S tates deserves immediate recognition for dedication and valor
and (2) honoring Native American code talkers is long overdue. SEC. 3 . F IN D IN G S. The Congress finds the follo w ing
(1) W hen the United States entered World War I, Native Americans were not accorded the status of citi z ens of the United States. (2) Without regard to that lack of citizenship, members of Indian tribes and nations enlisted in the Armed F orces to fight on behalf of the United States. ( 3 ) The first reported use of Native American code talkers was on O ctober 1 7 ,1 9 18. ( 4 ) B ecause the language used by the Choctaw code talkers in the transmission of information was not based on a E uropean language or on a mathematical progression, the G ermans were unable to understand any of the transmissions. ( 5 ) This use of Native American code talkers was the first time in modern warfare that such a transmission of messages in a native language was used for the purpose of confusing an enemy. ( 6 )On D ecember 7, 1941, J apan attacked P earl H arbor, Hawaii, and the Congress declared war the following day. (7) The Federal Government called on the Comanche Nation to support the military effort during World War II by recruiting and enlisting Comanche men to serve in the Army to develop a secret code based on the Comanche language. (8) The United States Army recruited approximately 50 Native Americans for special native language communication assignments. CodeTalk e rsR e c o gnit ion A ct o f20 0 8. Ar m ed F orces. 31US C 5 111 note. O ct. 15 , 2008 [H .R. 4 544 ]
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