As we honor Veterans on Armed Forces Day, we each have diverse persons, relatives, personal memories and ideologies with which we associated the word "veteran."  There are as many differing pictures of veterans as there are minds to remember them, young and old, living and dead. But there is one overriding concept which cannot be denied, and that is that a Veteran was called to serve the United States of America, some by volunteering, others by draft, some in the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Air Force, the Coast Guard. All did their duty, many served far beyond their call to duty, and some were truly heroic in their actions in military ser ice to this land they all loved. Even those unwillingly drafted, when called upon, served with honor, bravery, and laudable duty to a common ideal - an ideal which demands that all of us who enjoy the constitutional freedoms of this great country remember their service and express our eternal gratitude.

Native American Veterans can take particular pride in the fact that they have served in the Armed Forces of the United States of America, because by doing so they have displayed a willingness to overcome the bitter memories of
centuries of less than honorable treatment by the very government for which they now proudly wear the uniform and display the flag.

At every pow-wow, feast and event, a color guard of flags leads the procession, with the Stars and Stripes given the most prominent honor. The stories of Native Americans serving in the military, from WWII through the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, are too numerous to tell here, but ask any one of them to tell you their particular story, and take pride in their service, for their heritage is to be warriors, and they have served alongside the warriors of every other ethnic and national heritage which has become the "melting pot" we call America.  Today we are truly all Americans, and on this particular day, we pay tribute to those men and women who have sacrificed the comforts of their own individual lives to a higher cause, that of serving their country - serving under the flag of the United States.

We offer this opportunity for personal healing and understanding.  We salute every veteran who answered the call to duty and honorably served our nation, and we call upon them to tell us their stories, to remind us of their service, to stand together today and receive our tribute.