take the time to visit them. Enjoy the music and the History that a lot of people have spent
many hours putting together for us to enjoy.
This page will not focus on the past history of
Native American Indians but on some of the events in
the 19th and 20th century that made these
people true American Heros.
Navajo Code Talkers
On July 26, 2001, more than a half-century after they helped win World War 11, the 19 original Navajo Code Talkers were honored with the Congressional Gold Medal.
These Navajos brought honor to their nation. The Code Talkers joined 44,000 Native Americans who wore the uniform. More than 12,000 Native Americans fought in World War 1. Thousands more served in Viet Nam, and are still serving their country.
The 29 Navajos formed the original U.S.Marine platoon of the so-called Navajo Code Talkers, an elite band of radio operators who, speaking in their own complex tongue, passed critical messages between cmmanders and front-line troops that proved indecipherable to the enemy. Use of the Navajo code remained a secret for more than 20 years. On returning home from battle, they told their families only that they were infantrymen. They kept their secret until 1968, when the Pentagon finally declassified the tactic. The story of these great Americans is being chronicled in a film Wind Talkers, starring Nicolas Cage and is due to be released on June 14th, 2002.
More About Our Native Americans and their participation in the after math of Sept. 11, 2001
Once again these Native Americans came to the aid of their Country at a time when their Country needed them.
What many probably do not know, is that many of these men are very skilled in the construction field as Iron Workers so they brought a skill to this site of catastrophe that was needed-their balance on tall buildings is almost unbelievable. Indian ironworkers helped buld the Twin Towers just as they had worked high steel jobs on the Empire State Building, the Verazano Narrows Bridge and much of the rest of New York.
Native American Indian construction workers worked at Ground Zero. They operated machinery, and worked what was called "The Pile" so firefighters could rest.
The Native Peoples gave over $2million dollars to the relief effort by week's end. That was one dollar for each Native American, collectively the most economically impoverished segment of society.
My wish today is that more people would take the time to learn more about these Great Amricans and their history. Search the web for all the wonderful sites that are out there and that people have spent a great deal of time and effort to furnish the history of these people to the rest of us.
Music: Peace
A Special Tribute
to
Pfc. Lori Piestewa
Who Gave Her Life
in
"Operation Iraqi Freedom"
Servicewoman was "our hero'
Associated Press
TUBA CITY, Ariz. -
Pfcs. Lori Piestewa and Jessica Lynch were roommates and friends. For more than a week, their families a continet apart were joined in waiting for word of their fate in Iraq.
On Saturday, as Lynch's parents left their West Virginia home to fly to Germany for a reunion with their rescued daughter, Piestewa's morned the death of the first American servicewoman killed in war.
Both women were members of the Army's 507th Maintenance Company, based at Fort Bliss in Texas. Their unit was attacked March 23 when it made a wrong turn near Nasiriyah.
After an agonizing wait, the Lynch family received their miracle Tuesday: U.S. commandos rescured Lynch, wounded but alive, from a hospital.
They unearthed several bodies as well. Friday night, Piestewa's family learned that she was among them.
Piestewa, 23, was a member of the Hopi Tribe, whose reservation is near Navajo Reservation community of Tuba City. She was a single mother raising a 4-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl.
"Our family is proud of her. She is our hero," her brother Wayland said Saturday in a prepared statement to reporters. "We are going to hold that in our hearts. She will not be forgotten. It gives us comfort to know that she is at peace right now."
Behind him, family members and friends gathered on the porch of Piestewa's parents'trailer. Cars stopped briefly in front of the home as neighbors got out andhanded flowers to the family.
A low chain-link fence in front of the home was adorned with yellow ribbons, a red,white and blue heart and a sign with a picture of Piestewa, the Statue of Liberty and the World Trade Center Towers.
The Lynch family got word of the deaths before boarding a plane in Charleston, W.Va., on their way to Germany. The family broke off a news conference after being told that seven members of their daughter's unit were among the bodies retrieved during the raid.
"I wasn't aware of this...Our hearts are really saddened for her and other troop members and the other families." Lynch's father, Gregory Lynch Sr., said.
Piestewa was one of the very few American Indian women in the armed forces. Hopi officials said that 56 Hopis are serving in the U>S>military, 48 of them in Iraq.
This town of 8,200 and members of the Hop and Navjo tribes rallied around Piestewa's family, hanging yellow ballons and messages outside their trailer.
"She was so full of spirit. There was never a time I saw her upset or mad," Gloria Bigman said.
"It's hard to understand; one lived, one didn't," said the Rev. Hal Corbett. pastor at Tuba CityAssembly of God.
