By Butler T. Gray
Washington File Staff Writer

President Bush presented the Congressional Gold Medal July 26 to four of the five living original 29 Navajo "Code Talkers," and to relatives of the other 24 Native Americans who developed a series of encrypted messages in the Navajo language that were never broken by the Japanese and helped the United States win World War II.

"Today we give these exceptional Marines the recognition they earned so long ago," Bush said in remarks in the Capitol Rotunda. Bush said the "Code Talkers" brought honor to the United States as well as to the Navajo nation.

"Native Americans have served with the modesty and strength and quiet valor their tradition has always inspired," the President said. "That tradition found full expression in the code talkers, in those absent, and in those with us today.

"Gentlemen, your service inspires the respect and admiration of all Americans, and our gratitude is expressed for all time in the medals it is now my honor to present."

The code talkers were U.S. Marines who spoke in the American Indian language of Navajo, a tongue that Japanese code breakers were never able to decipher.

The Navajo code was so successful and valued by the United States that some code talkers were guarded by fellow Marines whose role was to kill them in case of imminent capture by the enemy, according to the U.S. Marines.

Bill Clinton, less than a month before he left the White House, signed a bill on December 21, 2000 to grant the Congressional Gold Medals to the original 29 "Code Talkers" and Silver Medals to about 300 Navajo soldiers who followed them to the Pacific Theater during the war.

The Navajo language had only been orally handed down through the centuries. In 1942 it was estimated that only 30 non-Navajos were fluent in the language and none of these were Japanese. This oral teaching of the language didn't change for the new recruits.

In May 1942 twenty-nine Navajos entered boot camp and later went to Camp Pendleton to develop the actual code. They worked at finding new words or meaning for military terms, which had no actual Navajo translation as well as an alphabetical way of spelling out other words.

Each code talker would be required to memorize the entire code. No codebooks or written aids would be allowed. As each code talker completed his training, he would be shipped to a Marine unit in the Pacific.

Eventually there would be over 400 Marine code talkers who would play a vital part in the United States winning the war against Japan. In fact, these code talkers would participate in every assault the Marines took part in from late 1942 to 1945. It has been said that battles such as Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal, Tarawa and Peleliu would have had a different outcome if not for the Navajo code talkers.

The code talkers were a large part of the U.S. victory in capturing the Japanese island of Okinawa, according to Chuck Melson, chief historian for the U.S. Marine Corps.

Despite having books written about them, a national day in their honor, a statue in downtown Phoenix and a museum in New Mexico that pay tribute to them, the men were never honored individually by the government.

"It wasn't until 1968 that it was declassified, that they were allowed to talk about it as other than a state secret. So I think that gave them an added burden that maybe their compatriots didn't carry with them," Melson said.

"They really weren't given any special recognition," he said. "Most of them I don't think wanted special recognition, other than that they had done their duty and they had survived, because there were a lot of people that they knew who did not survive."

"This is all very appropriate," said Martin Link, curator of the Navajo Code Talker Museum in Gallup, New Mexico. "They didn't win the war for the United States, but they certainly played a key role and this is a nice way of saying thank you."

Thomas Begay, 74, a code talker in the U.S. Marines 5th Division on Iwo Jima, said he helped craft many of the encrypted codes used on Iwo Jima and was in the process of devising others to be used in an invasion of Japan before two atomic bombs were dropped, ending the war.

Senator Jeff Bingaman (Democrat-New Mexico) said he was glad the White House and Congress were honoring the code talkers. "This was a chapter of our military history that has not been given sufficient attention, and there are some real genuine heroes here who deserve recognition," he said.

According to Bingaman's office, the code talkers transmitted more than 800 error-free messages during the first two days of the battle for Iwo Jima that were key in taking out many Japanese artillery and machine-gun positions and monitoring troop movements.

During the three years the Navajo code talkers participated in the war, Japanese Intelligence was able to break almost every U.S. Army and Army Air Corps code but not once were they able to break the Navajo code.

Academy Award winning actor Nicholas Cage, who stars in the upcoming film 'Windtalkers,' about the Navajo code talkers was in attendance for the ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda July 26.

Cage said he certainly doesn't think the "Code Talkers" received the glory they deserve. "I think it's overdue. I am glad this is happening," said Cage during a CNN interview. "I think it's important to recognize the bravery of the men that were involved, and most people don't know that Navajo Native Americans were actually Marines and fought alongside us."