Exhibit pays tribute to Native Veterans

PABLO - "What do they think when they look at the flag?" Vietnam veteran and the Director of the Tribal Culture Committee Tony Incashola asked. "The red, white and blue; the eagle staff? I see our ancestors. When I look at the red, white and blue, I see the faces of my brothers and my relatives and all those who I served with and who lost their lives. It's not just a flag. It means much more. Remembering the fear...I remember the cold. All that our great ancestors went through, so we may have what we have today. It's not just a piece of cloth, you're looking at people. You're looking at cultures."

Members of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal community gathered at the People's Center Wednesday for the opening of a new Smithsonian exhibit, "Native Words Native Warriors." The Flathead Reservation is the first stop for the exhibit, which will travel all over Montana this year and will be in Lake County until the end of the weekend.

"It's a privilege and an honor to be the first tribes to host this Native American veteran exhibit inside," CSKT Council Chairman E.T. "Bud" Moran said during his introductory speech. "This is a great honor in Indian Country."

Through hundreds of photographs, maps, stories and video interviews, the new exhibit chronicles generations of selfless Native Americans who fought for the United States Military.

According to Moran, more than 12,000 signed up to defend the Red, White and Blue in World War I, even though they were not granted citizenship until the passage of the Snyder Act in 1924.

The exhibit also pays tribute to the more than 44,000 who served in World War II. Many serving as "code talkers", soldiers from Native American tribes saw action on the front lines in Europe, Africa and the Pacific. Not enemy fire, chemical weapons nor difficult conditions could deter the "warrior tradition" and these men fought with strength, honor, pride, devotion and reason, Moran said.

"It is with immense pride that we honor that generation of Native Americans," he said. "I am struck by the images of war. They bring me back to my time in the service."

Moran, who served for nine years in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, said he joined the military to honor the memory of his uncle, Chuck Charlo, who was one of the first four men to raise the American flag on Iwo Jima.

The CSKT has contributed 686 tribal members to the United States Military since 1877, including more than 100 currently active service members. There are 41 living CSKT veterans from WWII and many more who paid the ultimate price for freedom.

"The list is long and the honor is great," he said. "We all served in different ways, but we always served as a team."

Mr. Richard Sims, Director of the Montana Historical Society said this exhibit also "honors the cultural warriors of today that help us hold on to our words and traditions."

For Incashola, there is a great divide between the young and old generations of today.

"We are at a point where we are losing our language," he said. "We must find a way for it to survive because it is the foundation of who we are."