Brave veterans from the Southwest who were members of every branch of service could receive special recognition at the Bernalillo Museum thanks to a bill working its way through the New Mexico Legislature.

Senate Bill 307 was unanimously approved by the House Rural Development, Land Grants, and Cultural Affairs Committee; a recent KRQE report said. The bill would provide $100,000 for the Veteran Heroes of the American Southwest-Forgotten Stories from Forgotten Places project. The exhibit would document and honor notable service members such as the Navajo Code Talkers.

The Navajo Code Talkers played a critical role in World War II, helping the Allied countries by transmitting more than 800 secret military messages without errors and without ever having their code broken; a 2022 KRQE report said.

“I love this idea, and you have my full support,” state Rep. Tanya Mirabal Moya (R-Tome) said in a recent committee meeting, quoted by KRQE. She noted also that her father was a Korean War veteran.

For the project to come to fruition, it must pass through several more rounds of voting.