Join E. Sean Standing Bear and John Henry Mashunkashey to discuss the Osage Code Talker Medal and its significance to Osage military history.
This Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to the Osage Nation at the U.S. Capitol Building on November 20, 2013. Mr. Mashunkashey, who was part of the Osage delegation to accept this honor, assisted with the medal's design selection and was its steward for many years. He recently transferred it to the Osage Nation Museum collection.
The Osage Code Talker Medal originated out of the Code Talkers Recognition Act of 2008, which required the Secretary of the Treasury to strike Congressional Medals in recognition of the Native American Code Talkers who valiantly served in the U.S. Armed Services during World War I and World War II. Little documentation exists on Osage Code Talkers, who are only known to have been used during World War I. Historian William C. Meadows uncovered a reference to Osage Code Talkers in an interview with Thirty-Sixth Division veterans who remembered Osage soldiers relating messages in the Osage language. “We used to wonder if the Germans could ever interpret these calls….it would have confused the hell out of them.’”
John Henry Mashunkashey is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and was deployed to Vietnam with the Western Pacific Battalion in 1967. He was wounded in action at Foxtrot Ridge and was awarded the Purple Heart for his bravery and sacrifice during the Vietnam War. Today, Mr. Mashunkashey actively supports veterans and serves on the Osage Nation Veterans Memorial Commission.
E. Sean StandingBear is an oral historian and former director of the Osage Nation Museum. He has contributed and consulted on significant Osage heritage projects, including Art of the Osage, University of Washington Press, 2014. Standing Bear is the son of George Eugene Standing Bear and a descendant of Chief Fred Lookout, the last hereditary Chief of the Osage.
Osage Nation Museum | 819 Grandview Avenue., Pawhuska, OK 74056
Saturday, May 17; 1 p.m.
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