Honoring Native American Veterans

Where: National Museum of the American Indian

When: closing in February 2018

I recently discovered that I wasn't finding all of the open exhibitions on the Smithsonian website.  Only the ones with specific closing dates are listed on the general exhibition page.  That means, in order to find shows that have only a closing month, you have to search each museum individually.

This takes a lot of time; I'm going to try to find a way to communicate my frustration to the Smithsonian website operators.  It would be much easier for visitors to just have everything together.  If I find it cumbersome to dig around for this information, I promise you the more casual visitor will not bother.

I was very glad to find this show, which is closing next month, before it was too late to see it.  It's in the Sealasaka Gallery on the museum's 2nd floor, which is a pleasant, sunny space.  It's small without being cramped.

Although you might think that Native Americans would have every reason to avoid military service to a county that exists because their lands were taken from them, in fact, Native Americans serve in the military in a higher percentage than any other demographic group.  The wall notes posit that this is due to the high status of warriors in Native American culture, both in wartime and in peace.

Native Americans have fought in every war since the Revolution.  They fought mostly for the British in that war and the war of 1812, which was, obviously, a mistake.  They were on both sides of the Civil War, fighting for the South not out of any great support for slavery, but because they deeply resented the U.S. government's treatment of them in the years since independence.  In the late 19th century, they served as Army scouts, and they fought in WWI and WWII.  Native languages were used as code during those wars, to the great benefit of the Allied causes.  The world owes a debt of gratitude to the "Code Talkers," for helping to defeat the Nazis.

Korea, Vietnam, the 21st century wars: all have seen Native American troops fighting and dying.  What we haven't seen is a memorial anywhere to honor their service.  But that's changing.  The NMAI is planning and raising funds for a memorial on the museum grounds that is slated to open on Veterans' Day 2020.  I look forward to visiting and blogging about this long-overdue tribute.

Verdict: Another interesting and informative exhibit at the NMAI.