Senators work to bring Meskwaki code talkers medals

Members of Meskwaki Native American tribe in Tama County may be getting recognition later this year for their work as “code talkers” in World War Two. Iowa Senator Tom Harkin is one of the state’s elected officials who is working on getting members of the tribe gold Congressional commemerative medals. He says the medals will hopefully be going out sometime this summer, as he says they’re long overdue. Harkin, a democrat, says other native American tribes have already received their medals, and it’s only right the Iowans are honored too. He says he was recently at the Tama settlement and he says the stories of the code talkers are heartwarming. The code talkers used their unique language to send messages for the U-S during the war in a code the enemy couldn’t break. Iowa’s other U.S. Senator, Chuck Grassley, has also been working on securing medals for the Meskwaki code talkers.