By HENRY C. JACKSON
Edmund Harjo, one of the last surviving code talkers of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, holds his Congressional Gold Medal, during a ceremony on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2013, honoring twenty-five Native American tribes who received the medal, in recognition of the dedication and valor of the code talkers and their service to the U.S. Armed Forces during WWI and WWII. “Code talkers” refers to those Native Americans who used their tribal languages as a means of secret communication during the war. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
John Parker, LaNora Parker
John Parker, right, and his sister LaNora Parker, left, members of Comanche Nation in Oklahoma, arrive for a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2013, honoring Native American code talkers who used their unique languages as a means of secret communication that enemy troops could not decipher during World War II,. Their father, Simmons Parker, was an Army code talker during World War II. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress is bestowing the Congressional Gold Medal, its highest civilian honor, on American Indians who used their native language to outwit enemies and protect American battlefield secrets during World Wars I and II.
Dozens of members of Congress, the military and others gathered in the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall on Wednesday to honor 33 tribes for the wartime contributions of so-called code talkers.
House Speaker John Boehner says members of tribes from across the country served bravely during the world wars, using “the simplest weapon — their language.” He says thousands of lives were saved because of their bravery.
Congress previously awarded the Gold Medal to code talkers in 2008. Wednesday’s ceremony was for more than two dozen tribes not included in that initial honor.
