The US assault on Munda Point, New Georgia in July-August 1943 drove American soldiers and Marines to the limits of endurance—and merited three Medals of Honor.

“No greater fighting combat team has ever deployed for battle,” General Douglas McArthur noted after the war of the 158th Infantry Regiment “Bushmasters,” which was made up predominantly of Mexican Americans and members of the Pima and Navajo tribes from Arizona.

A dozen years after the opening of the institution that would become The National WWII Museum, President and CEO Nick Mueller spoke to a Junior Achievement Hall of Fame banquet on “The American Spirit: What Does It Mean?”

While Navajo code talkers of World War II have been featured in several books and, in 2002, a Hollywood movie, in recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day it is important to remember that members of many different tribes served in this role.