Sam Allen and Ray Redwing, members of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe and  Martin Bernard, Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribal member, all members of the Gordon Weston Indian Veterans Post, Flandreau, traveled via the Tribe’s suburban 1,350 miles one way to Arlington Cemetery, Virginia for the 2009 National Memorial Day Observance. The veterans from Flandreau represented three branches of the military service: Sam Allen, Vietnam Veteran-US Marine Corps, Raymond Redwing, Vietnam Veteran, US Navy and Martin Bernard, Vietnam Veteran, US Army.
Don Loudner, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, Mitchell, SD and National Commander of the American Indian Veterans Association of the US had asked the Gordon Weston Post to participate in
(Pictured above from l to r: Sam Allen, Ray Redwing & Martin Bernard)
the ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Memorial Day. Mr. Reginald J. Mason, HQ, U.S. Army Military District of Washington, Ceremonial Activities Division, Ft. Lesley J. McNair, DC sent Don Loudner box tickets for Don and the Flandreau participants for the Memorial Day Amphitheater Program.
The four veterans represented Native Americans from South Dakota attending the ceremony and placed one of five wreaths at the memorial as President Obama watched within a few feet of them. Other Native American veterans participating in the ceremony were members (4) of the Lumbee Tribe, Pembroke, North Carolina.
 The wreath placed next to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the South Dakota Native American Veterans represented the “Four Winds” and “Four Colors. The wreath resembled a Medicine Wheel which is representative of Spirituality; the circle represents the Circle of Life and the Center of the Earth, and the center of the circle, the Eternal Fire.
The audience present at the ceremonies and the nation watched on C-SPAN and CNN as our Native American veterans carried in the Eagle staff.
(Pictured above Sam Allen, Ray Redwing, Don Loudner & Martin Bernard)
The Eagle Staff was presented to the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe by the Lower Sioux Tribe, Morton, Minnesota in 1998 and represents the struggle of the Dakotas and other Tribes to survive. The Post was given the honor to care for the Eagle Staff that represents the 38 Mdewakanton’s that were executed at Mankato, Minnesota on December 26th, 1862 following the Minnesota Uprising. It requested by the family of Ernest Wabasha, who is the hereditary Chief of the Mdewakantons (seventh generation), that our Honor Guard take care of the Eagle Staff.
Sam, Martin and Ray were very honored for the request from Don Loudner, National Commander of the American Indian Veterans Association, for the Eagle Staff and veterans from the Post to be a part of the ceremony and events at Arlington, VA. They visited Arlington Cemetery, the National American Indian Museum and the Vietnam War Memorial Wall in between two rehearsals on Saturday and Sunday before Memorial Day.
Don said: “This was the first time that we know where the Eagle Staff was there for opening and the President’s speech. American Indians were invited to attend.”-Carol Robertson, Editor, FSST Newsletter
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