In 2022, more than 2,000 Native veterans representing tribes from across the continental United States, Alaska Natives and the Native Hawaiian Community witnessed the dedication of the Native Veteran Memorial located at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) in Washington, D.C.
The memorial was designed by self-taught artist Harvey Phillip Pratt (Cheyenne and Arapahoe), who is a Vietnam veteran. His design was selected from among more than 120 submissions.
Pratt recognized the importance of using concepts relatable to all Native peoples. “I can reach these Tribes through circles and pathways and cardinal points and sacred colors and song,” he said.
The memorial, adjacent to the museum’s entrance, features a winding stone path adorned by native war songs. At the end of the path, the ground is marked by concentric granite rings with entry points in the four cardinal directions. The inner ring is also a bench, surrounding a pool of water in an intricately carved stone drum. In the middle of the pool, a giant steel circle stands on its edge, with a flaming torch at its base.
“A fire in the big steel circle, which is a hole in the sky where the Creator lives,” Pratt said. “And, and we have the Earth and the air. And I thought those are things that we all use, sacred fires, sacred water.”
Fourteen-foot steel lances stand at each of the cardinal directions with rings where visitors can tie cloths for prayer and healing.
Pratt hopes Native visitors will use these elements in healing and commemoration ceremonies at the memorial.
Years ago, Pratt said many tribes would not let their warriors back into the community after they came back from fighting. They needed help first. This is a practice many Native Tribes have gotten away from.
“The medicine people went out and prayed over them blessed them and cleansed them. Native people were treating PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) a long time ago. They went out and talked to these men and women and put them in a right frame of mind and then they let them into the camp. When I came home from Vietnam, we had the same ceremonies for me.”
“Unfortunately, in American society, for the most part Native Americans are pretty invisible,” said NMAI Director Cynthia Chavez Lamar (San Felipe Pueblo). “The memorial is one way to represent, to make us visible.”
“We’ve lost lands, we’ve been disenfranchised in different ways, but at the end of the day, we’re gonna fight for this country,” she said. “I’m just thankful that the museum is able to do a little part to honor that service and to pay respect to the sacrifice [that was] made.”
Pratt says the memorial celebrates warriors who defended their land, their people and their way of life. “This is Indian Country, regardless of who says they own it. It will be Indian Country forever, in my mind.
“And a lot of Indians think the same way. Their blood is spilt all over this land, and we have spilt Native American blood all over this Earth defending this land and we will continue to defend it.”
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