2008 Medal Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe Code Talkers Bronze 38mm

Coin Details

Description

This 38mm bronze medal honors the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Code Talkers, members of the eastern Dakota Sioux communities of the Lake Traverse Reservation in northeastern South Dakota and southeastern North Dakota who contributed their Dakota language to military communications. The Sisseton and Wahpeton bands are part of the Eastern Dakota division of the Sioux Nation, and their language variant — while related to the Lakota spoken by western Sioux bands — has its own distinctive vocabulary and phonological characteristics that added diversity to the Sioux code talker programs. The obverse features a design developed with the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, incorporating Dakota cultural elements honoring their code talker veterans. The Dakota language spoken by the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands retains features that distinguish it from the western Lakota and Nakota dialects, including different consonant shifts and vocabulary items that reflect the eastern Dakota bands' distinct historical experience in the prairies and woodlands of Minnesota and the eastern Dakotas. The reverse carries Code Talkers program inscriptions. The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate's geographic position at the eastern edge of the Great Sioux Nation's territory placed them in closer contact with European-American settlement than the western bands, creating a distinctive historical experience that shaped their community's relationship with military service and national defense.

Rarity Notes

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

Cross References

PCGS #910593; Code Talkers 2008; Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate; Eastern Dakota; Lake Traverse Reservation