What I did on veterans' day

[jon_norstog]

I posted this yesterday on the other list because someone said that veterans don't get any respect.

"Well, maybe that's true in the Dominant Society, that they don't really honor veterans. I went to the Veterans' breakfast this morning where I work, Shoshone-Bannock rez, Fort Hall. There was a sunrise ceremony, with a drum group. They sang the Flag Song, Honor Song, Veterans' Song, also a song that came to Eddie Fox when he was on a ship during WW II. The story was he was on a ship in WWII and was really scared. He went up on deck at night to have a smoke and that's when that song came to him. It's a beautiful song. These are Sun Dance songs, so they are tied into sacrifice and protecting your Nation.

Along with the other veterans I got blessed with cedar and water, we all shook hands. It was snowing and some yellow cottonwood leaves were falling with the snow as it got light. After the veterans, then the veteran mothers, then all the other people went through to cedar and take some water. A few people made speeches. Claudeo Broncho said, "Veterans are a brotherhood, it don't matter what color you are, we look out for one another."

We went indoors to post the colors and there was Forty-nines. Old school, not the modern 49s like they have at powwows, etc. These were the original 49s that were sung when a war party left, or when they came back. In WWII , Korea and Vietnam, those soldiers who had the 49 done for them mostly came back in one piece.

Lee Juan, one of the Council members was on the drum, and led the singing for the 49s. So he took the 49 around the circle and finished in the east. The women followed the drum, singing - it was great, sounded like wolves and coyotes, beautiful. The Shoshone way is this: the women gather on the west side of the drum, outside the drummers. Or if the drum is moving they follow. They sing along. The when the men stop singing the women will sing one verse by themselves and stop. The drum gives it one or two beats when they stop. My co-worker Darrell said they call the women “the mosquitoes” because they follow the drum and have a higher pitch.

After that we had breakfast, eggs, bacon, ham, sausage, hash browns, Indian tortillas, fresh fruit, OJ, pancakes, etc. etc.

There was a WWII vet who made a long speech in eloquent Shoshone, then followed up in broken English. About all I got was "1942."

Then a woman read the names of all the Tribal veterans. Her list included a couple WWI vets and a bunch who scouted during the Indian Wars. It was a great way to start the day.

The feeling was really good. All of us spend 364 days a year trying to do each other in, but on Vterans Day we all come together and recognize each other as brothers and sisters. And we try to put aside the evil that touched us, or that we did, back when we served.

I spent the rest of the day changing the timing and accessory belts, plugs, etc. valve cover gasket, and on and on my little red car, getting ready to go down to New Mexico and the Navajo country for a couple weeks.

So that was my Veterans Day."


jn

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[villiers]

There´s a small town I pass through on my way to work, just north-east of Berlin with a market place and some marble slabs marking the graves of about a platoon of Russian soldiers who died there and were buried on the spot. I usually go to the Berlin War Cemetery but have taken to laying a wreath on Remembrance Day, mainly because no one else does. They died in the Russian onslaught on Berlin, they were our allies (for a long time, our only allies) and they died fighting the same battle our fathers fought.

[old crow]

Thank you Jon. I am a veteran and I live in the land of the Anishinabe; some of whom are my very good friends. They almost never speak of their ways or ceremonies to me but they tell me the things that they believe that I should know about them and their families. I appreciate your telling. Thank you. ed