The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee met on April 26th, 2012, at the U.S. Mint’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., to review and discuss the candidate designs for the Code Talker Congressional Gold Medals honoring the Comanche, Kiowa, Santee Sioux, and Tlingit tribes. In attendance from the CCAC were Chairman Gary Marks, Michael Bugeja, Robert Hoge, Erik Jansen, Michael Moran, Michael Olson, Mike Ross, Donald Scarinci, Jeanne Stevens-Sollman and Heidi Wastweet. Representing the Mint were Don Everhart, Andy Fishburn, Greg Weinman, and Ron Harrigal.
The Code Talker Congressional Gold Medals were called for by Congress to recognize the dedication and valor of Native American code talkers during their service in World Wars I and II. As their languages have no linguistic similarities with those spoken in Europe, nor are they based on a mathematical progression, the German troops were unable to understand what was being transmitted by these soldiers, thus greatly aiding in the successful efforts to win the wars. In total, 22 different tribes have been identified as being Code Talkers, and Congress approved a bill to honor each tribe individually rather than have a single Gold Medal for all.
For each of the four tribes whose designs were reviewed, there were either two or three design candidates for the obverse and reverse, a far different situation than what the committee usually faces. There were some concerns over the accurate depiction of the symbols for each tribe, including the rendering of the Comanche Nation Code Talker statue, as well as the relative sizes of the devices on the Comanche Nation reverse designs. The Santee Sioux reverse designs were liked, but for different reasons: the first design was very true to the source, whereas the other two were more stylized. The Kiowa obverse design 1 looked like the soldier was on a patch of ice, and the large spiral integrated into the Tlingit Tribe reverse design 2 was disliked at first, but opinions warmed after it was understood that it represented the radio waves of the coded communications.
The committee recommendations were as follows:
Comanche: Obverse 2 (18 points), Reverse 2 (21 points)
Kiowa: Obverse 2 (22 points), Reverse 2 (22 points)
Santee Dakota: Obverse 1 (25 points), Reverse 2 (17 points)
Tlingit: Obverse 1 (25 points), Reverse 2 (26 points)
The committee’s recommendations matched those from the tribal recommendations, except for the Santee Dakota reverse, selecting reverse 2 over 1.
I didn’t realize that 22 tribes are to be commemorated as Code-Talkers, meaning 22 medals. Is the Navajo Code-Talker medal of 2001 included in this total? This makes for an interesting series, but I hope the obverse designs can be different enough, instead of just having a soldier on a walkie-talkie. The reverse seem to be where the uniqueness of each tribe will be portrayed.
Reading the 2008 legislation authorizing these medals, I also see that each individual Code-Talker or next-of-kin will receive a silver replica of the medal. Off the top of your head, do you know if this was also true of the original Code-Talker medal for the Navajo Nation minted in 2001? (That 2000 legislation is over 700 pages long, and I couldn’t slog thru all of them to find the appropriate section.) If so, have any silver medals come up for sale, to your knowledge?
I find it somewhat strange that both the Kiowa and Comanche have two figures on the obverse. While the Comanche background person might symbolize a spirit or historical figure the Kiowa appear to picture two World War soldiers working together. With only three Kiowas who have been identified as Code Talkers, I think it rather unlike that two were every together for long. I believe that each was attached to a different officer and most generally not in contact except via radio. Perhaps the designer needed a history lesson.
Not wanting to be rude but it’s about time. As a Navajo/Isleta Veteran, I’m very happy to see this recognition. However, I noticed that the Comanche ‘obverse’ side looks like the Indian image is naked.