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A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THAT THE UNITED STATES ISSUE A POSTAGE STAMP

COMMEMORATING THE NAVAJO CODE TALKERS.

WHEREAS, twenty years before the civil rights movement

of the 1960s, young Native American men served in the United

States military with great honor during World War II in a

special fighting unit that would impress upon the public that

loyalty and military service to America is above one's

ancestry; and

WHEREAS, the Navajo code talkers distinguished

themselves during World War II by serving with outstanding

valor in the United States military; and

WHEREAS, due to the outstanding service of the code

talkers, as well as Japanese Americans and the Tuskegee

airmen, President Harry Truman ended segregation in the armed

forces in 1948 with executive order number 9981; and

WHEREAS, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese empire

attacked Pearl Harbor, and the United States congress declared

war the following day; and

WHEREAS, the United States government called on the

Navajo Nation to support the military effort by recruiting and

enlisting twenty-nine Navajo men to serve as marine corps

radio operators in 1942; and

WHEREAS, the Navajo marine corps radio operators, who

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became known as the "Navajo code talkers", developed a highly

successful coded form of the Navajo language that ultimately

numbered over six hundred fifty code terms and that made it

impossible for the Japanese enemy to decipher American battle

messages about the times and places of attack, thereby greatly

assisting in saving countless lives and hastening the end of

World War II in the Pacific; and

WHEREAS, by 1945, the number of Navajo enlistees stood

at approximately five hundred forty, with around four hundred

of those serving as trained code talkers; and

WHEREAS, fifty-six years after the end of World War II,

in July 2001, President George W. Bush presented the original

twenty-nine code talkers with the congressional gold medal of

honor, although only five were alive to receive their medals;

and

WHEREAS, in November 2001, the remaining four hundred

Navajo code talkers received the congressional silver medal of

honor in Window Rock, Arizona;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE

STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the legislature officially recognize

the outstanding contributions to the war efforts of the United

States by the Navajo code talkers and honors their exceptional

bravery and patriotism; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislature requests

that the United States postal service issue a commemorative

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postal stamp to honor the service of the Navajo code talkers

during World War II; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

transmitted to the president of the United States, the

president of the Navajo Nation, the president of the United

States senate, the speaker of the United States house of

representatives, the postmaster general of the United States

and the citizens' stamp advisory committee of the United

States postal service.