Representatives of Native American tribes are honored at a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony on November 20, 2013, honoring Indian code talkers who used their unique languages to communicate secretly and help the United States win World War II. This photo was taken in the Capitol building in Washington.
Speaker of the House John Boehner thanks tribal representatives at a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony honoring Native American code talkers.
Behind the scenes at the U.S. Capitol as employees from the U.S. Mint prepare Congressional Gold Medals for the ceremony honoring Native American code talkers.
WASHINGTON, DC-In a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on November 20, Congress bestowed its highest honor on 33 tribes whose languages helped the United States defeat its enemies.
The Code Talkers developed and transmitted unbreakable codes during World War I and World War II. Their participation remained a secret for decades even as their own government carried out policies that attempted to stamp out their languages, ancestry and tribal nations.
That changed with the Code Talkers Recognition Act of 2008. The law authorized the Congressional Gold Medal for the 33 tribes, with each medal featuring a design unique to each tribe. The law also authorized the Congressional Silver Medal for 216 individual Code Talkers from the tribes. Although most have passed, one of them, Edmond Harjo, a 96-year-old member of the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, was able to receive his award in person at a follow-up ceremony at the National Museum of the American Indian.
Harjo also accepted the Congressional Gold Medal on behalf of the Seminole Nation at the U.S. Capitol. His participation was singled out by the Speaker of the House, Rep. John Boehner.
"Edmond and his brothers were at Normandy. They were on Iwo Jima," Boehner said. "They mobilized the simplest weapon: language."
