1
S moke S ignals
june 1, 2014
Names added to memorial
MEMORIAL DAY
continued
from front page
Kaleigha Simi, along with
Senior Veterans Queen
Savannah Ingram and
Junior Veterans Queen
Amelia Mooney attend-
ed.
Candidates for 2014-15
Royalty in attendance in-
cluded Kallie Provost and
Promise Rimer (for Senior
Miss Grand Ronde), and
Mabel Brisbois, Sasheene
Baker, Hailey Little and
Elizabeth Watson-Croy
(for Junior Miss Grand
Ronde). All helped serve
the meal, and later, dur-
ing the Memorial Day
ceremony, performed “The
Lord’s Prayer.”
Flags were at half-staff
as the lunch crowd moved
out to the Veterans Me-
morial. Special mention
was made of the passing
of Tribal Elder and World
War II veteran Gene
Hudson.
As most know,
veterans represent
an honored group
among the Grand
Ronde community.
Tribal Enrollment
Specialist Jolanda
Catabay along with
Advanced Security
Supervisor Juan
Sifuentez sang the
national anthem.
Land and Culture
Department Man-
ager Jan Looking
Wolf Reibach played
taps and “Amazing
Grace” on the flute,
and veteran Bob
Thornton, a chiropractor in Wil-
lamina, trumpeted taps from be-
hind the crowd.
Wayne Chulik, carrying the Eagle
staff, led veterans Al Miller, Alton
Butler, Wink Soderberg and Ray-
mond Petite in posting the colors.
Steve Bobb Sr., a former Tribal
Council member, served as master
of ceremonies. Bobb, a Vietnam
War-era Marine Corps veteran,
said, “We honor those who have
served their community.”
He said that Hudson, who walked
on on May 17, was a “brave and cou-
rageous warrior” of World War II.
He introduced the first speak-
er, Gunnery Sgt. Percy (Gunny)
Brandon, a Marine Corps veteran
and one of five Brandon sons who
fought in World War II. He went
on to serve in Korea and Vietnam
as well.
As Tribal Council Chair Reyn
Leno said, Brandon was the link
between officers and enlisted sol-
diers.
Brandon told of moving to Grand
Ronde in the 1940s and how the
Grand Ronde Indians “didn’t like
us half-breed Siouxs!”
With four other brothers already
fighting, Brandon’s mother did
Photos by Michelle Alaimo
Veterans Honor Guard members, from
front, Tribal Elders Wink Soderberg
and Alton Butler, Al Miller and Elder
Raymond Petite carry in the colors at
the beginning of the Tribe’s annual
Memorial Day ceremony at the West
Valley Veterans Memorial on the Tribal
campus on Monday, May 2.
Senior Veterans Queen
Savannah Ingram, left, and Little
Miss Grand Ronde Kaleigha
Simi, along with other Royalty
girls, helped serve the meal in
the Tribal Community Center
before the Tribe’s annual
Memorial Day ceremony on
Monday, May 2.
not want him to enlist, but when
he turned 18, he too followed his
brothers to war.
He remembered refusing orders
to take his 40 soldiers into battle
against 300 North Vietnamese. “I
could not stand to see my troops
wounded or killed with those odds,”
he said.
He was wounded four times in
battle.
“I never met a bonafide hero,”
said Navy veteran and former
Tribal Council member Wink So-
derberg, and he went over to shake
Brandon’s hand.
Oregon Department of Veterans
Affairs Veteran Services Division
Administrator Eric Belt attended
on behalf of Gov. John Kitzhaber
and department Director Cameron
Smith.
He noted “the beautiful Memo-
rial Day for us to connect with our
history and our principles earned
in blood and suffering. It is an
incalculable debt, and Memorial
Day is a unique opportunity to say
thanks, and to teach our children
that nothing good comes without
great cost.”
Tribal Council members Denise
Harvey, June Sherer, Cheryle A.
Kennedy and Leno addressed the
crowd. Sherer, an Army veteran,
remembered Diane Cilente. “(She
was) a friend of veterans,” Sherer
said about the Veterans Services
officer for Yamhill County who
walked on in 2006. “This is a time
to honor and remember those who
have served.”
Kennedy remembered her uncle
Gene Hudson as a humble man.
“When we walk this earth,” she
said, “we have a great job to do. …
This is the time to be mindful of
and show appreciation of those who
have sacrificed.”
Leno, also a Vietnam-era Marine
Corps veteran, said, “It is amazing
to think that each one named on
the memorial has stories to tell,
and the only way we lose them is
to forget.”
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley honored
“the sacrifices veterans have made.
When they went to war, their
families went with them. Today,
we can’t say thank you person to
person with all, but we can to those
who came back.”
Merkley echoed the words of
President Barack Obama, “Our
hearts ache, but there is solace in
knowing they gave their all for their
country.”
Marine Veteran Al Miller read
the names of Marines added to the
memorial this year. Soderberg read
the names of Navy veterans added
while Sherer read the names of
Army veterans added. Air Force
veteran Bud White read the single
name of an Air Force veteran added
to the memorial.
Twelve new names were added
to the memorial. New additions
from the Marines: Tribal member
Maxwell Hale, Ernest Keener and
Richard Van Atta; from the Navy:
Tribal member Gary Leuthauser,
David and Isaac Risseeuw, and Len
Malmquist; from the Army: Tribal
members Kerrina Grout Frenney
and Nathaniel Lane, Lee Roy Smith
and Randy Hoff; and from the Air
Force: Jack Stevens. The additions
bring the number of names on the
memorial’s four black granite pil-
lars to 2,283.
Bud Abbott read the poem, “Re-
member Me, America.”
Tribal Public Affairs Director
Siobhan Taylor and Adminis-
trative Assistant Chelsea Clark
helped coordinate the event with
the Grand Ronde Veterans Special
Event Board. n