Honoring Our Native American Veterans on Veterans Day

Today on Veterans Day, we honor the men and women who have served in the United States Armed Forces. Commemorated annually, Veterans Day originated as "Armistice Day" on November 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I. Then President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation in 1954 that changed the name to Veterans Day. It is a national holiday that honors all veterans-alive and dead-who have served the United States in the military.

For over 200 years, Native Americans have fought valiantly in the United States military even before Native Americans gained U.S. citizenry in 1924.

The rich contributions of the Native American code talkers during World War II have been chronicled in recent years. The fact that their codes were never broken is witness to the power of Native language that was available to those who spoke it then. One irony of history is Native languages that helped to save democracy during World War II were, at one point, beaten out of many of that generation at Indian boarding schools. Thankfully, the language survived.

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