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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, It is of the upmost importance that we honor those | ||||||
| 3 | who
fought and served for the freedom of our nation; and
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| 4 | WHEREAS, Despite everything Native Americans had endured, | ||||||
| 5 | many
of them felt the calling to serve the United States | ||||||
| 6 | military
during World War II; many served to protect the land | ||||||
| 7 | on which
their people had lived for thousands of years, others | ||||||
| 8 | served out of
patriotism, and others served to find | ||||||
| 9 | opportunities for education; and
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| 10 | WHEREAS, After seeing the success of Choctaws and other | ||||||
| 11 | Native
Americans using their native languages as code during | ||||||
| 12 | World War I,
the U.S. Marine Corps began recruiting young | ||||||
| 13 | Navajos in 1942 to serve
in the Pacific during World War II; | ||||||
| 14 | and
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| 15 | WHEREAS, Some Navajo Code Talkers enlisted, while others | ||||||
| 16 | were
drafted, some even served underage and had to lie about | ||||||
| 17 | their
age to join; and | ||||||
| 18 | WHEREAS, Over 400 Navajos were eventually recruited as | ||||||
| 19 | Navajo
Code Talkers, undergoing intense training which | ||||||
| 20 | included basic
training, extensive training in communications, | ||||||
| 21 | and
memorization of the code; and | ||||||
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| 1 | WHEREAS, The Navajo Code Talkers played an invaluable role | ||||||
| 2 | in
defeating the Japanese during World War II by using their
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| 3 | native language as the code for communications during combat
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| 4 | operations; and | ||||||
| 5 | WHEREAS, On the battlefield, the work of sending coded | ||||||
| 6 | messages
was extremely serious; being able to keep messages | ||||||
| 7 | secret could
make the difference between winning and losing a | ||||||
| 8 | battle and
affect how many lives were saved or lost; and
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| 9 | WHEREAS, Navajo Code Talkers did more than speak into a | ||||||
| 10 | radio;
they had to know how to operate both wire and radio | ||||||
| 11 | equipment,
often carrying it on their backs; and
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| 12 | WHEREAS, The Navajo Code Talkers were so successful, that
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| 13 | neither the Japanese army or navy were ever able to crack the
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| 14 | code, which remained classified until 1968; therefore, be it
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| 15 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
| 16 | HUNDREDTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | ||||||
| 17 | honor the Navajo military members of World War II and recognize | ||||||
| 18 | the day of August 14, 2018 as being National Navajo Code | ||||||
| 19 | Talkers Day.
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