Too many men from my family served in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq, and I’ve been to countless Veteran’s Memorial Day remembrances since childhood.
Some of my relatives never made it home. I learned of them through stories told about their lives, while others who came back were transformed from war experiences. They functioned with untreated post-traumatic stress disorder, isolation, depression and an array of physical and spiritual health problems.
Before my experience on Memorial Day in 2012, at Southern Ute Veterans Memorial Park in Ignacio, I never contemplated these things; I was only a spectator. Their ceremony, open to veterans, families and others, deeply touched my spirit because this Southern Ute Veterans “Day of Remembrance” invited everyone to be a part of the ceremony, and my relatives felt as palpable to my spirit as anything I’ve ever physically touched.
I was invited by Southern Ute elder Russell Box Sr. I was beginning to write his biography and needed to see places he’d been talking about.
The Southern Ute Veteran’s Association began in 1986, with veterans Roger E. Price, Howard Richards Sr. and Randy Baker Sr., to address the unique needs of tribal veterans. The Southern Ute Tribal Council donated a park in 1994 known today as Veteran’s Memorial Park. In 1995, the association created by-laws and received official tribal recognition. The organization helps veterans procure benefits, remain active in community functions and provides no-cost military services and color guard duties.
In my 2012 memory, rock ’n’ roll music reverberates from speakers set up by the Eddie and Betty Box family, who take care of audio throughout the ceremony. Vice Chairman Rod Grove greets gathering veterans. A color guard of veterans carries and presents the flags, with the Ute Veteran’s Flag in the middle. The Ute Veterans Monument serving as his backdrop, the Southern Ute chairman welcomes everyone to this ceremony.
A widow of a deceased Vietnam veteran offers a prayer in her native Ute language. Then, deceased veterans’ family members are invited to talk about their loved one’s lives. It is especially moving to me when generations of relatives stand and speak wrapped in Pendleton blankets.
The color guard, veterans, families and participants are lined up to walk the “Walk of the Warrior” to Ute Cemetery. This walk gives all of us time to reflect. A cadenced pace of the walkers and silence is broken only by children’s voices heard from somewhere in the back of my mind. Nothing makes me leave my contemplative place, not even the rhythmic sounds of Bear Dance singers heard from nearby Bear Dance grounds.
I think about relatives who served. My father-in-law’s PTSD flashbacks triggered from a drop of blood because he’d been an ambulance driver during the Korean conflict.
An uncle’s night screams and a cousin saying, “bad dreams from the war,” and being 8 years old when my aunt’s boyfriend drives into my grandmother’s driveway in his new Pontiac GTO, then watching her delight fade as he tells her about enlisting in the Army to serve in Vietnam.
We stop walking in the middle of a bridge over the Pine River for a wreath to be dropped in the water to remember those who died at sea. A red-tail hawk gliding in low circles over Ute Cemetery finally pulls me from memories. I overhear a Ute man tell his child, “that hawk is taking our prayers to Creator and bringing blessings to the people.”
The gorgeous bird patiently circles and ascends after prayers in Ute begin. The yellow Veteran’s Southern Ute flag moves with a gentle breeze, yet no wind blows and only that flag moves.
Hawk climbs higher until its red tail is a tiny speck I strain to see because it’s almost lost in a sea of turquoise blue sky.
I walk back to Southern Ute Veterans Memorial Park a changed person and feel my relatives’ strength with me. I’m in awe of how the Southern Ute Nation remembers its veterans.
This year’s event will begin at 10 a.m. Monday at Southern Ute Veteran’s Park in Ignacio.
Judith A. Stone is a writer, historian, speaker and author of Russell Box Senior: The physical and spiritual journey of a Southern Ute elder. Read more at russellboxsenior.com
