Tribes Honor Native Warriors on Veterans Day, Carrying On a Proud Tradition of Service

From Pembroke, North Carolina, to the Choctaw capitol grounds in Oklahoma, tribal nations set aside time this week to thank the men and women who have worn the uniform of the United States. The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina scheduled its Veterans Day ceremony for Tuesday afternoon at the tribe's housing complex in Pembroke, inviting the public to "recognize and honor the courage, sacrifice, and service of our Veterans." Retired Chief Warrant Officer 4 Rocky Sampson was announced as guest speaker. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma set its own ceremony for Wednesday morning on the Tvshka Homma Capitol Grounds in Tuskahoma, with lunch and a drawing for a veterans' hunting trip at the Choctaw Hunting Lodge.

In Phoenix, the Heard Museum planned a full day of Veterans Day programming, including an art market featuring veteran artists, a screening of the film Native Words, Native Warriors, and veteran storytelling. The day was to close with a Sunset Tribute at the museum's American Indian Veterans National Memorial marking the memorial's 14th anniversary, with a keynote by Michael Naranjo of Santa Clara Pueblo, an honor dance by the Pee Posh Bird Singers and Dancers, and a coin ceremony and honor song. Veterans and active-duty service members with valid ID, plus one guest, were offered free admission.

Those ceremonies honor a record few communities can match. In a statement marking Native American Heritage Month, the Veterans of Foreign Wars noted that Native Americans have stood with their countrymen in every American war going back to the Revolution. Roughly 12,000 Native Americans served in World War I, according to the VFW, and many of them were not yet citizens; Congress did not extend that recognition until 1924. More than 44,000 followed in World War II, among them the Navajo Code Talkers, whose code the enemy never cracked. Native troops have won every major combat decoration the nation awards, the Medal of Honor among them.

The Alabama Reporter, citing a Stars and Stripes essay by Poarch Creek leader Robbie McGhee, reported that upward of 42,000 Native Americans served in Vietnam, roughly nine in ten of them as volunteers. At least 29 Native Americans have received the Medal of Honor, the outlet reported, and the long line of service stretches back to David Moniac, a Creek tribal member from Alabama who in 1822 became the first Native American to graduate from West Point. Ira Hayes, a Native American from Arizona, was among the six Marines who raised the flag on Iwo Jima.

That tradition is alive today. The VFW says Native Americans now serve in the Armed Forces at "one of the highest rates per capita of any group in America." KSMU in Springfield, Missouri, cited a Department of Defense report finding that they serve at a higher rate than any other ethnic group.

In south Alabama, the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, the state's only federally recognized tribe, is building a memorial of its own. The circular memorial, still in its early stages, will sit beside the tribe's health clinic on the reservation near Atmore, the Alabama Reporter reported, and its design includes flags, benches and walls inscribed with patriotic words linking freedom to the courage of those who served.

For Robbie McGhee, now vice chairman of the Poarch Creek Tribal Council, the project is personal. His father, Bobby McGhee, a grandson of Chief Calvin McGhee, served 20 years in the Marine Corps, completed two tours in Vietnam and received the Purple Heart for wounds suffered in combat, according to the Alabama Reporter. The outlet credited Bobby McGhee, who died in 2019, as a catalyst in the tribe's 1984 federal recognition. "We have to tell these stories and educate people on this history," Robbie McGhee said.

In Springfield, Missouri, the American Indian Center of Springfield is holding its annual Honoring Veterans Powwow this Saturday from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Greenwood Laboratory School at Missouri State University, KSMU reported, its fifth year at that location. The center planned a smaller demonstration Friday at Drury University explaining the meaning of the regalia before the full dancing the next day. Executive Director Valerie Badhorse described powwows as something like a family reunion of food, singing, dancing and drumming. "Being a veteran, being a warrior in our culture is very significant," she told the station.

For a country that still believes in duty, family and gratitude to those who stand watch, these gatherings carry a message worth hearing. Native families have given sons and daughters to America's defense in every generation, often before the nation fully embraced them as citizens. On this Veterans Day, tribes and Native communities from Oklahoma to Arizona to North Carolina are making sure that sacrifice is remembered, and that the next generation knows the story.