For many years, Native Americans and others have urged that a special day be set aside to honor America’s first citizens.  From time to time, legislation was proposed in the U.S. Congress that would designate the Fourth Friday in September of each year as American Indian Day.  There has also been legislation that would establish a Native American Awareness Week the fourth week in September.  In 1987, the week of November 22-28 was proclaimed as “American Indian Week” by President Reagan.  It wasn’t until August 3, 1990, that a Joint Resolution designating the month of November as “National American Indian Month” was signed by President Bush, becoming Public Law 101-343.

American Indian Heritage Month is celebrated to honor and recognize the continuing contributions American Indians make to this country.  The theme for this year is: Honoring Warriors Past and Present.  During this month’s celebration let us remember and honor our American Indian warriors.

American Indians and Alaska Natives – the first Americans – have made enormous contributions to our country.  They are serving in our Armed Forces to defend the very freedoms we all enjoy and to protect our great Nation and its interests abroad from the threat of terrorism.

According to the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, 22,417 American Indian service members serve in the U.S. Armed Forces and the U.S. Coast Guard.  In the book Modern American Indian Leaders: Their Lives and Their Work, by Dean Chavers (2007), the author profiles eighty-seven American Indian heroes, including the following:

• Admiral Joseph J. Clark, Cherokee, was the first Indian to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy (1917).
• Col Gregory (Pappy) Boyington, Coeur d’Alene, was the commanding officer of a Marine aviation squadron (Black Sheep) in WWII.
• Capt. Raymond Harvey, Chickasaw, earned the Medal of Honor in Korea.
• Cpl. Mitchell Red Cloud, Jr., Winnebago, won the Medal of Honor for valiant action during the Korean conflict.  Camp Red Cloud, a U.S. Army base in South Korea is named for him.
• Pvt. Ira Hayes, Pima, assigned to the Fifth Marine Division, raised the American flag with five other men on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima during WWII.
• More recently, Pfc. Lori Piestewa.  The soldier, a mother of two, went down fighting in the March 23rd, ambush of the 507th Army Maintenance Unit near Nasiriya, Iraq.  She became the first American woman to die in the war, and the first Native American woman ever to die in combat on foreign soil.  Only twenty-three years old, Piestewa saw herself as a Hopi warrior, part of a centuries-old tradition.  Piestewa was driving the truck that was transporting Pfc. Jessica Lynch and other soldiers.  The ensuing attack proved to be one of the Army’s bloodiest days of the ground war.

During this month, I encourage you to celebrate the rich history of the American Indian and Alaska Native.  American Indians and Alaska Natives are not just an important part of our country’s past; they also play a vital role in American’s future.

Nancy C. Bresell
Director, DoDDS-Pacific/DDESS-Guam