DIRECTOR’S LETTER IN THEIR HONOR
can Veterans Memorial. Congress assigned this responsibility to the NMAI, and we are honored to have it. As you will read in this commemorative veterans issue of American Indian magazine, the past five years working toward its completion have been punctuated by a series of milestones. It began, though, with deeply moving conversations with Na- tive veterans and community members. Their humility, their generosity, their bravery and their stories soon made the project a labor of love for everyone involved. This memorial has been hundreds of years in the making. Native people have been serv- ing the United States in peace and war since the creation of the Union. The memorial honors the collective sacrifice of Native ser- vicemen and servicewomen during the past two and half centuries. It honors the families of those who served, especially the families of the warriors who did not return from their tours of duty. It honors the Indigenous Na- tions from which the veterans came. The memorial also honors the service of
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these veterans in their communities. Many of them returned home to assume positions of service and authority among their people. We recently lost several such individuals from our beloved circle of family members and colleagues. Four members of the museum’s Memorial Advisory Committee—Kurt V. BlueDog (Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate), Stephen D. Bowers (Seminole Tribe of Florida), Lee Gordon McLester III (Oneida Nation) and my uncle Marshall Gover (Pawnee Tribe of Okla- homa)—died while the memorial was still under construction. I am profoundly grateful for their service to our country, to their tribes and to the museum. They will be in our thoughts as the making of the memorial is completed. Honoring Native veterans will be a forever project of the museum. We are grate- ful to the many advisors, donors and support- ers who have gotten us to this moment.
6 AMERICAN INDIAN FALL 2020
s we approach Veterans Day 2020, I have been reflecting on the remarkable journey from concept to creation of the National Native Ameri-
Right to left: National Museum of the American Indian Director Kevin Gover (Pawnee) breaks ground for the National Native American Veterans Memorial with NMAI Board of Trustees Chair Bill Lomax (Gitxsan), Congresswom- an Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo), memorial designer Harvey Pratt (Cheyenne/Arapaho), National Native American Veterans Memorial Advisory Committee Co-Chair Jefferson Keel (Chickasaw Nation), Forest County Potawatomi Community Vice Chairwoman Brenda Shopodock, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie and Interim Director of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, John Davis on September 21, 2019, in Washington, D.C.
This commemorative issue marks the
completion of the memorial and honors those it represents and those who worked so hard with us to see it realized. We offer a mere sam- pling of the great range of individual stories from those who served. If you are a veteran, Native or not, some of these experiences you may recognize as reflecting your own. We hope that this issue offers all readers a window into the great legacy Indigenous servicemen and servicewomen have made to this country and their communities. Included in this issue are some of the
behind-the-scenes moments that led to “The Making of a Memorial” (see p. 30) and a preview of the new “Why We Serve” exhibi- tion (see p. 36). We look forward to the time
when we can safely gather. Until then, we are also pleased to invite you to join us online for a virtual celebration of the memorial’s opening on November 11 and a variety of other online programs and educational con- tent (see p. 42). And as always, we invite you to give us your
feedback on our events and programs via our social media channels. NMAI is dedicated to keeping an open dialogue about all that our nation is enduring and encourages such criti- cal conversations to the improvement of our society. Please stay in touch with us. I look for- ward to hosting you at our museums in Wash- ington, D.C., and New York again soon. X
— Kevin Gover (Pawnee), director of the National Museum of the American Indian
PHOTO BY PAUL MORIGI/AP IMAGES FOR NMAI
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