Bill Text: AZ HCM2002 | 2014 | Fifty-first Legislature 2nd Regular | Introduced
Bill Title: Navajo code talker trail; highway
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-2)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-02-12 - Referred to House GOV Committee [HCM2002 Detail]
Download: Arizona-2014-HCM2002-Introduced.html
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REFERENCE TITLE: Navajo code talker trail; highway |
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State of Arizona House of Representatives Fifty-first Legislature Second Regular Session 2014
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HCM 2002 |
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Introduced by Representatives Peshlakai, Contreras, Dalessandro, Fann, Gallego, Gonzales, Hale, Larkin, Miranda, Steele: Gabaldón, Mach, Saldate, Wheeler, Senator Begay
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A CONCURRENT MEMORIAL
URGING THE aRIZONA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO DESIGNATE the portion of interstate highway 40 THAT IS located between the New Mexico state line and Flagstaff as the "Navajo Code Talker Trail" in honor of the Navajo code talkers.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
To the Arizona Department of Transportation:
Your memorialist respectfully represents:
Whereas, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese Empire attacked Pearl Harbor, and the United States Congress declared war the following day; and
Whereas, the military code developed by the United States for transmitting messages had been deciphered by the Japanese and a search was made by United States intelligence to develop new means to counter the enemy; and
Whereas, military commanders explored the possibility that the extreme complexity of the Navajo language might make it a valuable military code. Navajo, an unwritten language that has no alphabet or symbols, proved to be an indecipherable code since its syntax and tonal qualities, including its dialects, make it unintelligible to all except those who have had extensive training and exposure to it. Initial tests using the Navajo language as a code demonstrated that the Navajos could encode, transmit and decode a three‑line English message in twenty seconds, a feat that took machines thirty minutes to accomplish; 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. At the time, the Navajos often were treated as second-class citizens and were generally discouraged from using their native language. The Navajo Marine Corps radio operators, who became known as the "Navajo Code Talkers," developed an unbreakable code using their native language to communicate military messages and created a dictionary and numerous words for military terms that did not exist in Navajo. 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, the Navajo language, discouraged in the past, was instrumental in developing the most significant and successful military code of the time. This remarkable code was used extensively throughout the Pacific theater during the war. At Iwo Jima alone, six Navajo Code Talkers worked around the clock, passing more than eight hundred error-free messages in a forty-eight hour period. Use of the Navajo Code was so successful that military commanders credited it with saving the lives of countless American soldiers and in the success of United States engagements in the battles of Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, Peleliu and Okinawa. Much to the enemy's frustration, they were never able to decipher the Navajo Code; and
Whereas, the Navajo Code was kept secret by the United States Department of Defense for twenty-three years after the end of World War II until it was declassified in 1968. Only then did the exceptional sacrifice and valor of these brave and resourceful Native Americans emerge from history. Their skill, speed and accuracy in using the unique Navajo Code remains a feat unparalleled in our nation's military endeavors, and the Navajo Code Talkers are deserving of the highest praise; and
Whereas, the Navajo Code Talkers distinguished themselves in performing a unique, highly successful communications operation that saved countless lives and hastened the end of World War II in the Pacific. The Native American Code Talkers have performed an important service to the preservation of democracy, and they are deserving of continuing recognition for their efforts.
Wherefore your memorialist, the House of Representatives of the State of Arizona, the Senate concurring, prays:
1. That the Arizona Department of Transportation designate the portion of Interstate Highway 40 located between the New Mexico state line and Flagstaff as the "Navajo Code Talker Trail" pursuant to section 41-514, Arizona Revised Statutes.
2. That the Arizona Department of Transportation approve, place and maintain appropriate signage to identify the Navajo Code Talker Trail.
3. That the Secretary of State transmit copies of this Memorial to the Director of the Arizona Department of Transportation and the President of the Navajo Nation.
