Column | Thoughts on Memorial Day

By President Buu Nygren

Editor’s note: President Nygren submitted this to the Navajo Times May 29.

Yá’át’ééh. This morning we are gathered at the Navajo Veterans Memorial Park to honor, remember and pay our respects to the Navajo men and women who gave their lives in the service of the United States and the Navajo Nation.

Although many think of this only as a time for celebration, gathering of families and the beginning of summertime, we tend to forget the very ones this day was meant for – our fallen soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, the men and women who served among them, and those who did not come home to be with us today or with their own families in years past.

Since the long, brutal march to Fort Sumner and our forebears return, our people have experienced being prisoners of war, killed in action and missing in action. We have some of their names on the wall here. Despite our losses and despite their sacrifices, the Navajo people still have the heart to serve. That continues to this day.
At each high school graduation, I attended were students whose next choice in life is military service. Ceremonies will be done for them before they leave. Ceremonies will be done for them when they return. Military service means some may not return. Among those who did not are those we honor here today.
The Navajo Nation has officially recognized the Navajo Warrior through the Navajo Veterans Act. It states:

“Native American Tribes throughout North America have participated in and contributed to the United States Government through acts of military service in every minor and major military conflict that the United States has been involved in.

“Today, Native Americans represent the highest per capita for military enlistment of any ethnic group in the United States military, and the Navajo Nation foresees this to continue for further Native generations to come.”

The Navajo Veterans Act acknowledges and validates our young people’s commitment, courage and tradition to serve, even if that means laying down one’s life for the betterment of others. They enter the military as youth, often right after high school or college. They come home as men and women.

The Bible, John 15:13, tells us: “Greater Love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends ….”

Throughout the Bible and throughout the literature of the world, every epic, every myth, every classic is a story of a struggle between good and evil. All of these are war stories. Most are metaphors of the struggles within our own lives, of ethical conflicts and the choices we make, of our perseverance, of our strengths and weaknesses, of our personal fight against those things “that lead us into temptation.”

Today we remember, recognize, honor, and give thanks to the very people who overcame those temptations and put the highest good of their comrades and the people they fought for at home above their own good. They gave the ultimate, their breath of life, the beating of their hearts.

They are everywhere buried in faraway lands in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Philippines, and the oceans.

It is because of them, we, the citizens of the United States and our Great Navajo Nation, can enjoy the freedom and privileges we so often take for granted.
Today is the day we acknowledge them and what they did. Today is the day we remember.

For some of us, for the mothers who lost sons and daughters, for those who lost brothers in arms, for those among us here today, we remember and acknowledge them.
This is a somber day of remembrance, and we remember with reverence. Ahxéhee’ to all these great men and women for their bravery and sacrifice. May we not forget.

---