12 2 STA T .47 7 5PUBLIC LA W 11 0– 420 —O CT. 15 , 200 8(9)TheUnit e dS t a te sM a r ine Co r p sre c r u ited se v era l hun - dred N ava j os f or dut y in the P acific re g ion . ( 10 ) D uring W orld War I I , the United States e m ployed Native A merican code tal k ers w ho developed secret means of communication b ased on native languages and were critical to winning the war. (11) To the frustration of the enemies of the United States, the code developed by the Native American code talkers proved to be unbreakable and was used e x tensively throughout the E uropean theater. (1 2 ) In 2001, the Congress and President B ush honored Navajo code talkers with congressional gold medals for the contributions of the code talkers to the United States Armed F orces as radio operators during World War II. (1 3 ) The heroic and dramatic contributions of Native Amer- ican code talkers were instrumental in driving back Axis forces across the Pacific during World War II. (1 4 ) The Congress should provide to all Native American code talkers the recognition the code talkers deserve for the contributions of the code talkers to United States victories in World War I and World War II. SEC.4 . D E FIN I T I O NS. In this Act, the following definitions shall apply
(1) C ODETALK E R . — The term ‘ ‘code talker ’ ’ means a Native American who— (A) served in the Armed Forces during a foreign conflict in which the United States was involved
and (B) transmitted (encoded and translated) secret coded messages for tactical military operations during World War I and World War II using their native tribal language (non-spontaneous communications) (2) SE C RETAR Y .—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of the Treasury. SEC. 5 . CON GR ESSION AL GOLD M EDALS. (a) A W ARD A U T H OR IZ ATIO N .—The Speaker of the H ouse of R ep- resentatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the award, on behalf of the Congress, of gold medals of appropriate design in recognition of the service of Native American code talkers during World War I and World War II. (b) IDENTI F ICATION OF RECI P IENT S .—The Secretary, in consulta- tion with the Secretary of Defense and the tribes, shall— (1) determine the identity, to the maximum extent prac- ticable, of each Native American tribe that had a member of that tribe serve as a Native American code talker, with the exception of the Navajo Nation; (2) include the name of each Native American tribe identi- fied under subparagraph (A) on a list; and (3) provide the list, and any updates to the list, to the Smithsonian Institution for maintenance under section 5 (c)(2). (c) DESI G N AND STRIKING OF MEDALS.— (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall strike the gold medals awarded under subsection (a) with appropriate emblems, devices, and inscriptions, as determined by the Secretary.
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