By BY CHAD HUNTER Senior Reporter,Chad Hunter/cherokee Phoenix
Copyright cherokeephoenix
TAHLEQUAH – Cherokee veterans representing four branches of the U.S. military were part of the tribe’s latest Warrior Flight to Washington, D.C., where they toured national monuments erected in their honor.
“I want to see the memorials and I want to take them in from a different perspective now,” said 78-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran Michael Smith, of Tulsa. “I’m representing a number of Cherokees that never got this kind of an honor. I have a lot of cousins that served in Vietnam under battle, and they’ve gone on to be with the Lord. To me, this trip is for them.”
The veterans gathered for a send-off lunch Sept. 16 at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa before catching a plane to Washington, D.C., where, over several days and at the tribe’s expense, they visited national war memorials.
CN Deputy Chief Bryan Warner told the veterans the Warrior Flight was more than just a chance to see memorials, but rather “an opportunity to continue that ‘gadugi,’ working together for the greater good.”
“And you cannot work together if you cannot heal together,” he said.
The Cherokee Nation organizes its Warrior Flight twice a year.
“This is the second one this year, and it’s our 13th Warrior Flight,” said CN Secretary of Veteran Affairs S. Joe Crittenden, himself a veteran of the U.S. Navy. “We’re taking seven veterans to see the monuments and spend time in D.C., give them some free time, let them wander around on their own a little bit. Some folks have never been there before, so we’re glad to be able to do that.”
When asked why the Cherokee Nation hosts the flight, Crittenden said the tribe loves its veterans, “and we can do it.”
“We honor their service. We thank them,” he added. “I mean, we couldn’t be going on things like this … if it hadn’t been for the veterans that served this country so well. So, we’re blessed and happy to do it as a tribe. We have an administration that’s very supportive. We have a council that’s very supportive. We’re a large tribe and we have the resources, and we just love it.”
The Cherokee Nation funds its Warrior Flight for tribal citizens who have already been awarded the tribe’s Medal of Patriotism for military service. Cherokee service men and women are given the medal as a show of respect for their sacrifices. Originally from Stilwell, Smith received his Cherokee Nation Medal of Patriotism in 2022.
“I’m appreciative,” he said. “I never expected anything like that, you know. When we were discharged, we just went back into civilian life and tried to get absorbed into it. But the Cherokee Nation respects and honors veterans.”
Smith joined the Air Force in 1965 – even before graduating from high school – through an early-entry program. His four-year stint was shortened due to an influx of new recruits, he said.
“The Vietnam-era was full-blown then,” he said. “So many people were joining or being drafted that in order to have a clean discharge for everybody, they went around and asked if you would take a six-month early release.”
Another Warrior Flight participant, Danny Stanley, of Collinsville, joined the U.S. Army as a teenager.
“I went in the volunteer draft at 17 years old in 1967,” the 76-year-old recalled. “I spent time in Korea on the military zone.”
Stanley was stationed in Korea in 1968 when the U.S. Navy’s USS Pueblo was attacked and captured by North Korean forces. According to the Museum of the United States Navy, one crew member was killed while the remaining 82 were taken prisoner.
“North Korea viewed that the ship violated territorial waters,” the museum says. “This claim was denied by the United States. The crew was repatriated on Dec. 23, 1968.”
Stanley returned home after two years of service. The reception, he noted, was “not good.”
“They treated us like we’d done something wrong,” he said. “They’d kind of spit at you and call you names – baby killers, things like that – no matter where you came from. No matter where you served, you still got the same treatment.”
In contrast, the Cherokee Nation has opened its arms to all veterans, Stanley said.
“This is wonderful,” he said. “I think this is something that should be everywhere. I think everybody ought to do this.”
Decades later, Stanley still thinks about his military life “all the time.”
“I enjoyed the time I was in there,” he said. “It helps the younger generation probably grow up a little bit, you know, become a man. It teaches you a lot about life.”
Stanley was awarded the Cherokee Nation’s Medal of Patriotism in 2020.
Other Cherokee Nation citizens on the latest Warrior Flight were Mark D. Harper, of Olathe, Kansas (U.S. Army); Ross Fred Reavis Jr., of Tulsa (U.S. Navy); Jack Hiram DeVera, of Claremore (U.S. Navy); William Moore, of Miami, Oklahoma (U.S. Coast Guard); and Robert Hathaway, of Tahlequah (U.S. Navy).
According to the Cherokee Nation, Native Americans have more citizens serving in the country’s armed forces per capita than any other ethnic group, per statistics from the U.S. Department of Defense. The Cherokee Warrior Flight is similar to the national honor flight organization, which has a goal of helping veterans, willing and able, to see the memorials dedicated to honor their service.
Crittenden has helped lead the Cherokee Nation’s Warrior Flight for years.
“I’ve seen a lot of things out there,” he said. “Sometimes a veteran will open to a rank stranger who’s a veteran more than they will their own family because they realize they know something about what you go through – the fear and the worry and all of the things, the emotions you have.”
At the Vietnam Wall, he said, “I’ve seen tears; I’ve seen people cry and laugh at the same time because they’re happy they get to see it. They etch the name of the buddy they lost. You know, you see a lot of stuff like that – the little mementos they leave, and I think that’s all part of the healing for veterans. I think it is, and it does something for me since I’m a veteran, too.”
For more information about the Cherokee Nation Warrior Flight, contact the CN Office of Veteran Affairs at 918-772-4166.
