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KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii - November is recognized and celebrated nationwide as Native American Heritage Month. The month is an opportunity for Native Americans to celebrate their rich heritage and honor their ancestors who have gone before them.
Native American Heritage was first nationally recognized in 1916 in New York, when Red Fox James, a Blackfoot Indian, rode on horseback to 24 different state governments gathering endorsements to establish a day to honor Native Americans, according to http://indianaffairs.gov.
In the mid-1980s, Congress declared a weeklong observance to recognize Native Americans and in 1990, President George H.W. Bush later designated the entire month of November National Native American Indian Heritage Month.
A few years later, resolutions were made to name the month Native American Heritage Month and was extended to include Alaska Native Americans as well.
“This month is a time to recognize everyone of Native American heritage and achievements and accomplishments,” said Gunnery Sgt. Curtis Bradley, equal opportunity adviser for MCB Hawaii. “It’s a heritage that can be forgotten. Remembering the individual heritage makes us great, because everybody has something different.”
Hundreds of Native Americans have served in the U.S. armed forces. Corporal Ira B. Hayes, a Native American from Arizona, was one of six men who raised the American flag over Iwo Jima in World War II, pictured in the iconic photograph by Joe Rosenthal in 1945.
“The more we learn of someone’s heritage, the better we become,” Bradley said. “It’s the differences that makes us unique, it’s the diversity that makes us better as a Marine Corps.”
Navajo Code Talkers also played a vital role in WWII. Code talkers were a group of service members who developed an unbreakable code, in the Navajo language, used in World War II. The code proved to save hundreds of American lives.
In America’s history, there have been 3,469 Medals of Honor awarded to service members, 32 of them were awarded to Native Americans.
There are now 566 federally recognized Native American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages and more than 100 state-recognized tribes across the country, according to http://indianaffairs.gov.
Kimmer Bighorse, an Native American army veteran, will be conducting a presentation on Native American History, the Code Talkers, and performing a hoop dance at the Anderson Chowhall Nov. 21. For more information about Native American Heritage month, visit http://indianaffairs.gov or call Bradley at 257-7720.
| Date Taken: | 11.15.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 11.15.2013 14:01 |
| Story ID: | 116822 |
| Location: | KANEOHE BAY, HI, US |
| Web Views: | 121 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Celebrating Native American heritage, by Sgt Sarah Anderson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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