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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 2006)
AUGUST 1,2006 2006 Veteran's Pow-wow Pullout Smoke Signals 3 fca . wlf 9m Walk This Way Over 300 Veterans celebrated in Grand Ronde for the Annual Veterans' Pow-wow held on July 7-9. Pictured here is Saturday evening's Grand Entry which included Whipmaster Victor Fry, a member of the Chetco Tribe ( right and top photo). Eagle Staff (Cover) Pictured on the cover is one of the many traditional Eagle Staffs represented at this year's Veterans' Pow-wow. To many North American Tribes, the Eagle Staff is a significant symbol of reverence for all of life. Many also believe that it depicts the supernatural. The Eagle staff is considered the first flag of the Native nations. Each has right and left wing eagle feathers for balance, and is blessed by a spiritual leader. For the Grand Ronde Veterans' Pow-wow, 2006, Vets brought eight eagle staffs, including one from Arizona, four from Southern Oregon, two from Grand Ronde and one from Yakama. - . "- 1 U 1A a. E ... . - - 71 rP Royalty Tribal member Marcus Gibbons Proud Ten members of the Ira Hayes American Legion Post in Arizona participated, including an honorary introduction and a position in all of the grand entries. Traditionally-carved Northwest Indian art (below) was on display for this year's pow-wow. v $ rj ''. "" . f li il i?JL Japanese Veterans Honored By Tribal Veterans At Grand Ronde Pow-wow By Ron Karten From World War II, four Jap anese vets were on hand from the 442 Regimental Combat Team. The 442nd was the most highly decorated combat unit in World War II. It suffered a mortality rate of 80 percent. Still, the Japanese Vets became victims of U.S. internment policies and the racism that accompanied them. They were invited by Tribal Elder Bob Tom, who heard them speaking, along with Grand Ronde and Siletz Tribal members, at the University of Oregon Longhouse a few months ago. Here in Grand Ronde, the group shared the outsider's experience with In dian Vets. "Our history is similar," said Tom, "in a good way and in a bad way." He said that both still value their language and culture. Shared Experience Japanese-American Veteran Kennie Namba told stories about serving in the military and still being an outsider a story all too familiar to Indian Vets. And like Indians who at one time could not go off the reservation without permission, victims of the Japanese internment could not leave their camps without permis sion. Kennie Namba, a decorated member of the 442nd, went into the service, fought throughout Europe, and when he came back, he said, he went into a grocery store in Hood River where his wife was living, and the kid behind the counter, who had probably never set foot outside of Hood River, told him, 'We don't sell anything to Japs.' The group also donated books to the Tribal library. Made in Japan and Settled in Oregon by Mitzi Asai Loftus (signed copy) Title Lake, a novel by E.T. Miyakawa The Last Fox, a novel by the 100th 442nd RCT by Robert H. Kono (signed copy) Keeper of Concentration Camps by Richard Drinnon The Hood River Issei An Oral History of the Japanese Set tlers in Oregon's Hood River Valley by Linda Tamura Stubborn Twig Three genera tions in the life of a Japanese American Family by Lauren Kessler "These books are a valuable contribution to the Tribal Li brary and add to the diversity of the collection," said Tribal Librarian and Tribal member Marion Mercier.
