2008 Medal Pawnee Nation Code Talkers Bronze 38mm

Coin Details

Description

This 38mm bronze medal honors the Pawnee Nation Code Talkers, members of the Pawnee people of north-central Oklahoma who used the Pawnee language for military communications. The Pawnee have one of the most distinguished military traditions among Native American peoples, having served as scouts for the U.S. Army throughout the Indian Wars period and continuing their warrior tradition through service in every major American conflict of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The Pawnee language, a Caddoan language unrelated to the Siouan and Algonquian languages of neighboring Plains tribes, offered unique cryptographic value. The obverse features a design honoring the Pawnee code talkers with cultural imagery reflecting the Pawnee Nation's heritage. The Pawnee language's membership in the Caddoan language family, shared with the Arikara, Wichita, and Caddo peoples, placed it in a completely different linguistic category from the Siouan languages spoken by the surrounding Sioux, Osage, and Omaha tribes. This linguistic isolation within the Plains region enhanced the Pawnee language's value as a code medium, as even Native Americans from neighboring tribes would have found it incomprehensible. The reverse carries Code Talkers program inscriptions. The Pawnee Nation's exceptional military service record, including their famous Pawnee Scouts who served under Frank and Luther North in the 1860s-1870s, establishes a warrior tradition that the code talker program extended into the modern era.

Rarity Notes

Bronze duplicate medal, 38mm. Code Talkers Recognition Act of 2008 series.

Cross References

PCGS #910570; Code Talkers 2008; Pawnee Nation; Caddoan language family; Oklahoma