8 JULY 15,2013
Smoke Signals
'People aire already asEdrag abotmti mexti year'
SUMMIT continued
from front page
ated Tribes of Grand Hondo, drew
a steadily increasing crowd as it
progressed, eventually reaching
more than .'300 veterans and their
relatives in attendance.
"I think it is going awesome," said
Native Wellness Institute Execu
tive Director Jilene Joseph (Gros
Ventre). "We've just been really
pleased."
Joseph said that organizers and
attendees are already talking about
the Veterans Summit becoming an
annual event.
"People are already asking about
next year," she said. "I think that
this is the seed that has been plant
ed and that it will continue to hap
pen. Even before day one started,
there was talk about next year, so
I think it is already a given."
The four-day event, titled "A
Gathering of Warriors," started
Tuesday, July 9, with a 2 p.m.
fire ceremony led by Jim Warne
(Oglala Lakota). About 34 early
arrivals surrounded a fire pit and
ceremonially tossed tobacco into
the flames.
"Put tobacco into the fire in a good
way," Warne, a former professional
football player, coached. "Let the
bad things go."
At 3 p.m., an opening ceremony
featured a welcome by Grand Ronde
Tribal Council member Steve I3obb
Sr., a Marine Corps veteran of the
Vietnam War.
"With a warm heart and on behalf
of our Tribal Council, all of our
members and the Native Wellness
Institute, I want to welcome you to
the homelands of the Confederated
Tribes of Grand Ronde and into the
hearts of the Grand Ronde people,"
Bobb said.
"We are not only both blessed, but
very excited to be able to host the
first event like this here with the
main focus of bringing deserved
benefits and services to those who
deserve them the most, the brave
men and women who continue to
step up and proudly defend this
great nation.
"So we come together as a gath
ering at this initial summit to help
inform, to guide you and to help you
to obtain the benefits that you truly
have coming to you. With all that
you have given to this nation, at
times it has failed to, in return, care
for you and help you. So we are here
today to help you down that path.
... We ask that you inquire, seek
out and enjoy the four days you're
going to spend with us. Please feel
at home with us."
During the opening ceremony,
Joseph said the Veterans Summit
was a "vision in action."
"We've been planning for this
gathering for almost a year now,"
she said. "It is a way to honor our
veterans; the men and women who
have served and I'm just really ap
preciative right now of everyone
who has volunteered their time to
make this become a reality. ... It
just goes to show you that when
there is heart and there's passion
and there's faith behind something,
anything can happen."
Joseph said the impetus for the
) i L "
I . :.V X
Photo by Michelle Alalmo
Peter McDonald Sr. talks about his service as a Navajo coda talker during World War II at the "Veterans Summit:
Gathering of Warriors' at Uyxat Powwow Grounds on Thursday, July 1 1 . On the left is Bill Toledo, a fellow code talker
who also told his story.
Veterans Summit occurred when
the Native Wellness Institute
received phone calls from Native
veterans seeking help rto live as a
civilian again after enduring the
effects of war.
"We sat on this idea for many
years, actually, before we decided to
act and do something," Joseph said.
"And here we are, with the great
help of the Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde."
Charlie TailFeathers (CreeBlack
feet), a Native Wellness Institute
board member and Navy veteran
credited with being the "visionary"
of the summit, said the event's vi
sion consisted of "what can we do to
help these people? What can we do
to get the services they so deserve?
What can we do to get the VA (Vet
erans Affairs) to quicken delivery of
services to vets."
TailFeathers chastised the fed
eral government for not finding the
2,400 Native Americans who are
still listed as missing in action and
for not providing enough Veterans
Affairs employees throughout the
country to handle caseloads in a
timely manner.
Joseph encouraged attendees to
take a "healthy risk" and try some
thing new during the summit.
During the opening ceremony,
Army veteran Swil Kanim (Lummi)
played "The Star-Spangled Banner"
on violin and Grand Ronde Tribal
member Jan Looking Wolf Reibach
played a medley of "Amazing Grace"
and taps on Native flute.
Jess Faber (Tsimshian), 63, of
Ocean Shores, Wash., was one of
the first veterans to register. He
said he was attending the Veterans
Summit to learn more about post
traumatic stress disorder. A Viet
nam veteran of the Marine Corps,
Faber said he went to school and
became a mental health therapist
after leaving the military.
"This is a combination of profes
sional and personal interests,"
Faber said.
Every day, Gene Tagaban (Tlin
getCherokee) acted as master of
ceremonies.
On Wednesday, Thursday and
Friday morning, the summit
opened with the bringing in of the
eagle staff and colors by the Grand
Ronde Veterans Honor Guard and
a blessing.
On Wednesday morning, after
Tribal Elder and former Tribal
Chairwoman Kathryn Harrison
delivered the blessing, Tribal Coun
cil Chair Reyn Leno told attendees
that it was an honor for the Grand
Ronde Tribe to host the summit.
"Any veteran is considered a war
rior," Leno, a Marine Corps veteran
of the Vietnam War, said. "It's not
about which Tribe you're from,
what community you're from, what
town you're from, what state you're
from, a veteran is a veteran. I think
we need to try to acknowledge all of
them. They either prepared to go to
war or they did go to war."
Leno said that veterans can
sometimes be their own worst en
emies by not asking for the help
they need.
"Hopefully there will be encour
agement to do other summits so
veterans can get out there and we
can help them," Leno said. "They
stepped up and helped us. I always
say, they make it so we can go
and do things like this today. ... If
we prolong the life of one veteran
because of something out of this
seminar, this summit will be suc
cessful for me."
Summit attendees listened to
keynote speakers in the morning
and attended workshops in the
afternoon. Because of the slow
ly building attendance, planned
breakout sessions that were to be
offered twice in the afternoon were
moved under the big tent and pre
sented only once.
On Wednesday, attendees lis
tened to Cameron Smith, director
of the Oregon Department of Veter
ans Affairs, talk about how Oregon
supports veterans.
Smith said that the Oregon Legis
lature did not make any reductions
to programs aimed at veterans and
approved $4 million in bonding au
thority for a second veteran's home
in Oregon. Lawmakers also passed a
law allowing veterans to request Vet
erans Day off from their employers.
Smith, a retired Marine Corps
captain, received a Pendleton blan
ket from Leno, Bobb and fellow
Tribal Council members Toby
McClary, June Sherer and Jon A.
George.
On Thursday, the keynote speak
ers were Peter McDonald Sr., 85,
and Bill Toledo, 89, two of 38 sur
viving Navajo code talkers from
World War II.
McDonald and Toledo were hon
ored by Grand Ronde Chinuk Wawa
Immersion School children. They
sang a song and presented the two
code talkers with a poster that read
in Chinuk Wawa, "Thank you to the
soldiers."
McDonald explained how the Na
vajo code was developed and dem
onstrated how it was used during
World War II to foil the Japanese.
It was the only code that the Japa
nese were unable to break during
the war, McDonald said.
"For a first annual event," Mc
Donald said about the Veterans
Summit, "it is very well put to
gether." Wednesday afternoon workshops
concentrated on health, discussing
such topics as suicide, post trau
matic stress disorder, spirituality,
See SUMMIT
continued on page 9