(Public Law 110-420), recognizing the contributions of all Native
American code talkers who served in both world wars. The Navajo
had already been awarded a Congressional Gold Medal in 2001.
Various highways and bridges in Oklahoma have been named for
the code talkers.
Ruth Hooker is proud of her great-grandfather’s achievements,
and she and her mother, Kathryn Hooker, in November 2013,
accepted medals on his behalf, and also for his half-brother Joseph
Davenport, also a code talker.
“I think the government finally recognized all code talkers within
all the tribes,” said Hooker, “so they had a lot of representatives
from different tribes across the United States. But the Choctaw were
recognized as having been the original code talkers.”
Kathryn Hooker, the granddaughter, said the family d