Today, we celebrate the lives and contributions to our country, with their families and friends who are with us today. Congratulations to all of you. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, United States senator from the state of oklahoma, the honorable james inhofe. [applause] we heard first from congressman tom cole who is our native american art of congressional delegation. I recall hearing from him before he was in congress and at that time i was in the house, and introduced us to this bestkept secret of world war ii and world war i, the code talkers. I look around and i see a lot of people who were very active other than those on the program today, but on the program today we have made mention of dan boren. He is here. I believe wes watkins is one of the initial individuals who reminded us of this bestkept secret. So, for decades after world war ii, people did not know anything about the contributions we started introducing resolutions and it was not until 2008 that we were successful. I want to mention that the speaker talked about edmund of the seminole nation, one of our fellow oklahomans. Those of us have been fortunate, those in oklahoma, involved in this meeting today, and one of the reasons is oklahoma has the largest population of native americans and second only to california, and they cheat because they have more people. Nonetheless, it became evident to us as to the contributions made. In his opening prayer, the reverend talked about the lives that were saved. We cannot quantify that but we know they were out there. Because of the secretive nature of the code talkers contribution, you cannot say how many, but we know many, many lives were saved by these american heroes. We pay tribute to today, we love you, it will always respect you and remember you. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, the United States army band and horus. For the flag of the free may it wave as a standard forever remember the day proclaim as they march but by their march they wave forever hooray for the flag of the free may it wave as a banner orever remember the day the claim as they march that by their march they live forever hey [applause] ladies and gentlemen, the democratic leader of the United States house of representatives, he honorable nancy pelosi. [applause] good morning. It is an honor to be here with our speaker, to be here with our native american brother, with ron kind, with the distinguished senator johnson, and senator inhofe, and we in california take great pride in having the largest number of native americans. In 1941, and of course, with the admiral that we will hear from later. In 1941, a young member of a commanche tribe, charles, joined the u. S. Army, one of 17 members of his tribe, he was recruited to speak their language in service to our country in world war ii. Even in a nation that has long denied him his basic rights that long refused his people citizenship, that long neglected the challenges facing native americans, charles volunteered. Like many of his generation, his fellow code talkers and service members, he signed up to protect and defend our communities and shared homeland. That is the oath of office that we all take to protect and defend, and the code talkers honored that pledge and helped us honor ours, all americans to do so. Years later, we save lives using the native american language. As soldiers and marines with codes, no enemy could decipher the code talkers saved lives on the beaches of normandy and at iwo jima. They save lives on the invasion on dday, the battles in the european theater, and fighting across the south pacific. They kept their code secret and safe, as the speaker mentioned. They served with undaunted bravery, part of a band of rothers that defeated tyranny, set a continent free and estored the hope of democracy across the globe. The code talkers carried forward the hope of their people committed to the cause of freedom. Their sense of duty was never shaken, nor was there a resolve. Their patriotism never wavered, nor did their courage. The bonds of brotherhood were never broken, nor was there code. For their heroism and sacrifice, the contributions that went unrecognized for too long is a privilege for congress to bestow the native american code talkers the highest honor we can bestow, the congressional gold medal, and by your acceptance [applause] bring luster to this award. May these metals long and or as a sign of respect, admiration and unending gratitude for our native american tribes and the sons they sent to battle. We all know that god truly blessed america with our code talkers. Thank you and congratulations. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, the republican leader of the United States senate, the honorable Mitch Mcconnell. [applause] it is an honor to join my colleagues today in recognizing the service of the native american code talkers. A little more than a decade ago, congress and president bush honored the navajo code talkers for the tremendous contributions during world war ii. Today, we honor the rest of the code talkers whose extraordinary kill and heroism will be remembered as long as the history of modern warfare is told. Rarely has a group of men then so crucial to a nations military success, yet so little known for so long as the native american code talkers. These heroes, some as young as 15, answered the call when the country needed them, and they perform their task with extraordinary courage and grace. Often working behind enemy lines, these men sent messages that once took hours to transmit in a matter of minutes or even seconds, all in the code they were not even allowed to put on paper for fear that it would be discovered by the enemy, and then when they came home, they could not even talk about their achievements. They had to keep them secret so that no one would know about this new weapon of war. So, we are deeply grateful for their service. Hopefully, in the years to come, the deeds of these good men will be more widely known and all americans will know the inspiring story of these native americans who saved so many lives devising and deploying a code so effective that our enemies never broken. It is a privilege to honor these men today, and to thank you thank them for their courage and sacrifice. The honor is long past due, but no less heartfelt. Gentlemen, america is grateful for your service, and we are determined to honor the memory of your heroic deeds. Thank you. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, the majority leader of the United States senate, the honorable harry reid. [applause] according to firsthand accounts from the pilgrims when they arrived on this continent, native americans did not farm the land, so it was not truly their land. According to the pioneers who pushed past the mississippi, native americans were not civilized, so they did not truly own the land. According to prospectors who rushed for the hills of nevada, california, and even nevada, alaska, native americans did not speak english, so they did not truly own the land. Strangers had forced the native people from the land, slaughtered their game, stifled the religions, outlaw their ceremonies, and ravaged their communities. Next, the newcomers even try to steal their languages. In the late 1800s, the United States government forced native American Children to attend englishonly boarding schools. Native children were torn from their families, taken far from home in boxed cars and buggies, given english names, and forced to cut their hair short. Teachers beat the children with leather straps when they spoke their native language. The government told them their language had no value, but the children held onto their anguage, culture, and history, despite great personal risk, and in this nations hour of greatest need, the same native american proves to have great value indeed. In the early war days of world war ii, japanese code breakers cracked every american cipher, everyone of them and military members needed a code so obscure, so unknown, that even their own decoders could not break it. The perfect secret weapon would be languages all but forgot outside of a few isolated communities. The United States government ingeniously turned to people whose language they try to eradicate, but why would native americans who had been robbed of their land and their culture of greed to use their precious language to protect a country that either neglected or abused them for centuries . Here is why. One native american code talker, a young navajo man by the name of chester put it this way, somebody has to defend this country. Somebody has to defend reedom. No matter how many times the United States government had tried to convince them otherwise, the corporal new that the United States of america was his land. This young corporal was just a boy, a high school student, when he enlisted. Native americans, like the corporal, were so eager to serve that many lied about their age to enlist. These brave soldiers, these code alkers had a special gift, their sacred languages, and they selflessly shared that gift with our country, their country. Their gifts saved countless lives and helped win the war, and their willingness to share t made them american heroes we honor our american heroes today. [applause] ladies and the speaker of the United States house of representatives, the honorable john boehner. [applause] thank you. I want to say thank you to my colleagues for their estimonials, and of course all of those who made todays ceremony possible. We are now going to present the medals made this ceremony possible. We are going to present the medals, and i am asking you to hold your applause until the end so that we can give all of our honorees their proper due. Ladies and gentlemen cherokee of alaska, choctaw tribe of chipowa, Lake Superior opi trirkse kiowa tribe of , ahoma, Laguna Pueblo tribe creek tribe muscogee nation, oneida tribe of indians f wisconsin, osage nation, pawnee nation of oklahoma, tribe, ibe, rosebud apache ation, tonto tribe, White Mountain apache. Ribe [applause] if you could all remain standing, we will have the benediction. Ladies and gentlemen and gentlemen, the vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats, and if our wonderful native americans who have received their medals, would like to retire to their seats, i will not make you stand while i talk. I will say good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and while you might be taking your seats gain, allow me to say [speaking native american language] i beg your forgiveness if i did properly greetings and i beg your indulgence that i cannot speak for all 33 of the wonderful groups we have here today. Mr. Speaker, leader harry reid, leader nancy pelosi, distinguished guests, honorees, guests and families, we are very proud of you, and im very proud to be included today. Here during native American Heritage month, i have the great privilege of representing the finest military in the world in recognizing the hundreds of native americans who have worn the cloth of our nation in the distinctive way that we celebrate today, and in such a courageous way defending a country that did not always keep its word to their ancestors. [applause] the 33 tribes and 216 individuals we recognize today represent native warriors that leverage their native tongue to defend our nation through an unbreakable code, patriots that possessed a unique capability and willingness to give of their special talent and their lives. As richard west, founding director of the National Museum f the American Indian so eloquently captured it, language is central to cultural identity. It is the code containing the subtleties and secrets of cultural life. As it turns out, the clever usage of our nations original, unique, and special languages these cultural codes was also an essential part of defending our great nation. We have all heard the story throughout history military leaders have sought the perfect code, signals the enemy cannot break, no matter how able the intelligence team, and it was our code talkers who created voice codes that defied the oding in an era of slow, by hand battlefield encryption, such an eloquent way to quickly divide communications. It was doubly clever in that not only the language was decipherable indecipherable, the special words used within the language were difficult as well, such as crazy white man for adolf hitler, or tortoise for tank, or pregnant fish for bomber. The code talkers role in combat required intelligence, adaptability, grace under pressure, bravery, dignity, and, quite honestly, the qualities typefit my youthful stereo of the brave, American Indian warrior. Hese men endured some of our nations most dangerous tackles and served battles and served proudly. The actions of those that we celebrate today were critical insignificant operations such as comanches on utah beach on dday, hopis on the carolina islands, cherokees at the second battle, to name but a few. These men were integral members of their teams, the 36th infantry division, the fourth signals company, the 81st infantry division, the 30th infantry division, and so many more, learning morse code and operating equipment to translate messages quickly and accurately. In the words of navy admiral aubrey fitch, employment of these men has resulted in accurate transmission of messages that previously required hours. From the start, the service endered by these men has received favorable comment. High praise him navy language. These men contribute it not only in battle, the fundamentally to military intelligence committees work in cryptology, and dollar the ur Museum Highlights code talkers as pioneers of their specialty. Here, once again, we learned that one of the greatest strengths of our nation is diversity, and your u. S. Military, in particular, has always found great strength in this diversity. You may wonder why this is so. When the chips are down and the bullets are flying, and the only way out is to win, it does not take long to recognize on the one hand that ones heritage is not matter much anymore, and at the same time if you can bring Something Special to the fight through your own diversity, well, so much the better. Our military has always lied led our way out of the cultural challenges that sometimes accompany diversity. We are happy to leverage unique skill sets regardless of individual differences, and through our code talkers, once again, diversity matched innovation with victory. The heroes sitting among us are a testament to this. 33 diverse cultures, 33 diverse dialects, all fighting together for one nation. Native americans have long sacrifice for our nation, well presented by 20th army, marine corps, and navy medal of honor recipients. The First American woman killed in Operation Iraqi freedom was a member of the hopi tribe, and many others have served nobly, proudly, and well in combat. While we have benefited as a nation from our native american Warriors Service and sacrifice, we can also learn from how they managed their journey from war o peace. Thanks ro remarkable advantages in battlefield and postbattlefield remarkable advances in battlefield and postbattlefield medical care, we have many Wounded Warriors we will need to support for decades to come. The smithsonian makes it a point to note that native american cultures has special traditions to help warriors return home with injuries or member and veteran sacrifices forever. After the two world wars, most native american code talkers returned to communities facing difficult economic times. Jobs were scarce. Some of the returning code talkers stayed in their communities doing whatever kind of work they could find. Others moved to cities where jobs were more plentiful. They took advantage of the g. I. Bill. The code talkers accomplished many things during their postwar lives. Some became leaders in their communities and participated in tribal governments. Others became educators, artists and professionals in a variety of fields. Are and remain active in the cultural lives of their tribes and some worked to preserve their languages. All remained recognized heroes within their tribes. The lesson for us today . These men and women who have served no about commitment and are ready to lead in communities across the nation. They are a national resource, a innovation, hard work and resilience. They deserve our best. As we gathered together in emancipation hall and a long and benevolent shadow of freedom, im reminded by the bronze statue of the chief to my right that warriors become great not because of their competence in battle but also because of their unity. For peace and we can best honor these great quarters among us not just with well deserved and long overdue ourgnition, but also within own efforts to continue to leverage our nations diversity and to forever honor our veterans, including our native american veterans. For their narrative is an essential piece of our narrative heard their journey as our journey. Estimates traded by our code talkers, our nations future is built on their contributions to our history. I started, atere least trying to speak if familiar language to our wonderful code talkers and their descendents. Thank you. And may god continue to shower his blessings on our great nation. Thank you. [applause] reverend Hetrick Conroy gives the benediction. Thank you, creator, the maker of ways, for giving us this Beautiful Day to celebrate life. May the hands and hearts of this nation be raised in prayer and praise for the heroic servicemen and women native to this memberst, who as proud of the United States military served our nation so valiantly in its numerous battles. Though few in number and lacking any ecodesire to be named heroes for doing their duty, these code talkers from many nations are honored this date by a nation which rises to celebrate their important work in military intelligence. May the breath of god uphold their noble and heroic story. They have honorably carried on a great legacy of their ancestors to understood a service ones people is the highest calling. May their great example of service communicate to all generations and to all nations a message to inspire citizens everywhere to serve their communities. Less all women and men in military service no matter their racial, cult