Copyright © 2005 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved
By Travis Snell, Staff Writer
Copyright © 2005 CNO/Cherokee Phoenix
TAHLEQUAH, OKLAHOMA - The Cherokee Nation's Veterans Affairs Office held a soft opening ceremony for the nearly completed Cherokee Warrior Memorial Sept. 2 at the tribal complex.
The Cherokee Warrior Memorial, which is nearly complete, will be officially dedicated Nov. 10. (Photo by Bryan Pollard) 
After nearly four years of planning and work and with about 50 people in attendance, VAO benefits counselor Rogan Noble opened the ceremony with a prayer asking those in attendance to remember all Cherokee veterans, both alive and dead, who served their country.
A group of singers then performed the Cherokee flag song as the CN Color Guard raised the American, Prisoner of War/Missing in Action and tribal flags on three flag poles located behind the memorial.
Noble said the seven shorter flag poles that stand between the memorial and the three taller flag poles represent the tribe's seven clans - Deer, Wolf, Bird, Long Hair, Wild Potato, Blue and Paint - and would be available to the Cherokee people to fly its clan's flag when a Cherokee veteran dies.
Deputy Chief and Army veteran Joe Grayson then thanked the tribe's maintenance crew for its effort in installing the bricks with Cherokee veterans' names. He added that the tribe plans to build a veterans center in the future next to the memorial on the site of the complex's tennis courts.
"We'll have a small museum, some offices, and we'll move our veterans center out to that place," he said. "It will be a self-help project that the communities can come in and help build, and we veterans can all help build it so that we all have a stake in it."
He said the tribe has also designed a medal called the Cherokee Patriot's Award to give to Cherokee veterans in the future. He said veterans and active personnel could wear it on their uniforms to show they are Cherokee.
Principal Chief Chad Smith followed Grayson by reminding the crowd to honor Cherokee servicemen who have fallen since Sept. 11, 2001, along with human rights activist Fern Holland who died in Iraq.
"These are very tender and sincere emotions we use to honor our veterans," Smith said. "Today we remember those of the past, and we also remember those in our current service and those who will serve our country and our (Cherokee) Nation in the future."
The memorial, designed by Cherokee draftsman Marianne Biziano, is 100 feet across and has a 50-foot CN seal with a seven-pointed star in the center. The star, with each point representing one of the seven Cherokee clans, will have a mirrored finish. The leaves surrounding the star will be two different colors.
Two .105MM-caliber guns also flank each side of the memorial with names in the Cherokee syllabary. The U.S. Marine Corps gun, with Thunder emblazoned in Cherokee on the barrel, sits on the north side, and the U.S. Army's gun - Lightning - sits on the south side.
Donated benches will encircle the seal, and 10 flags have been placed at the entrance of the memorial where the granite centerpiece will sit. Lights have been installed to illuminate the flags at night.
An approximate 12-foot-by-20-foot black granite wall centerpiece inscribed in both Cherokee and English reads: "A grateful Cherokee Nation dedicates this memorial to all Cherokee men and women, both living and dead, who have defended their families, their people, and their homeland," on one side with "These names are carved in stone forever - so that we and our children can learn and remember. POW-MIA, you are not forgotten" on the other side.
Noble said he and other veterans were glad to see the memorial open to the public.
"It's great. I couldn't be happier. I've been at this thing for four years now and just to see it come this far is thrilling," he said. "Everyone (veterans) I've talked to so far is really happy with it and having a time looking for their names."
He said the official dedication will be held Nov. 10 - the day before Veterans Day - and hopes to have local, state, tribal and national dignitaries, a fly-over, bands and various tribal color guards attend.
Noble added that more names have been sent to the engravers to be engraved on bricks and that the VAO would continue to sell bricks for $25 as long as there are Cherokee veterans to honor. Engraved bricks can also be moved and placed next to family and friends if desired, he said.
"We don't want to leave anybody out. As long as there are people willing to go and protect their homeland, the memorial will never be finished."
For more information, call Rogan Noble, phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2695) or send an e-mail: Rogan-Noble@cherokee.org.
Contact, Travis Snell, by phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2358) or by e-mail: tsnell@cherokee.org.
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Cherokee Phoenix and Indian Advocate
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