News-Info-Alerts

Re: The Honoring Pole

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: September 08, 2003

"Lummi carvers complete 2nd cross-country journey

Kari Shaw, The Bellingham Herald

After driving across the country with a totem pole anchored to a trailer flatbed and American Indian songs blaring on the truck stereo, a dozen Lummi carvers and war veterans finally arrived in Shanksville, Pa., this weekend.

Their goal: to hoist the 13-foot pole, dubbed the Honoring Pole in deference to American bravery, in a grassy town park near the site of a plane crash on Sept. 11, 2001. The totem is meant to honor the heroics of war veterans in general and the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93, who challenged their hijackers nearly two years ago and crashed the plane into farmland. The same morning, hijackers crashed two planes into the World Trade Center towers in New York and one into the Pentagon.

As the group unloaded the totem, carver Ramona James dialed her father on her cell phone. It was 9:15 a.m. in Shanksville, and 6:15 a.m. at former Green Beret Paul Ridley's home in Whatcom County.

"I thought a lot about my dad and all that the veterans do" on the journey, James said. "I have a deep respect for all that the veterans do all over. I had to tell my dad, 'I love you.' "

Veterans honored

In the company of about 150 families from Pennsylvania's Somerset County, James and her fellow travelers dedicated the Honoring Pole to the memory of Flight 93 and the contributions of veterans past and present Sunday morning. They had spent the last two weeks praying in traditional ceremonies and honoring both Flight 93 passengers and veterans, both retired and active duty.

The travelers, including Lummi war veterans Frank Cordero, Jack Cagey and Larry Washington and Nooksack Gordon Kelly, put bundles of sage, sweet grass and tobacco under the pole - all materials used in many traditional American Indian ceremonies across the country.

The Honoring Pole is the second memorial created by the Lummi Nation's House of Tears carvers dedicated to remembering the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The first, called the Healing Pole, was raised in the Sterling Forest, about 40 miles outside of New York City, on the first anniversary of the attacks.

Jewell James, head carver for the house, said he hopes to carve two totems and an arch to bring to the Pentagon next fall.

This year, however, was dedicated to the heroics of the flight passengers and of veterans.

"We intentionally sought to remind people to honor the veterans and men and women in active duty," he said.

'We know what pain is'

During the journey, Jewell James said some people struggled to describe the Northwest-style totem, including some who called it a "tiki man" pole.

Others asked why American Indians would go through the trouble, considering the checkered past between tribes and the U.S. government.

"Most people were shocked. They wanted to know, 'Why would you do that after the way we treated you?' " Jewell James said. "We would always tell them that with the suffering in our communities and the high death rates, we know what pain is like. We depend on each other to heal."

The journey wove the concept of American bravery, as celebrated in Flight 93 passenger Todd Beamer's famous words, "Let's roll," and war service with traditional American Indian ceremony. Some highlights:

• At the Grand Ronde reservation in Oregon, the travelers held their ceremony next to the tribe's veterans memorial. Marble columns inscribed with the names of local veterans surround two bronze statues of an American Indian woman and man reaching toward the stars.

• At the Hopi reservation in Arizona, the carvers' Honoring Pole ceremony coincided with the burial of a Hopi soldier who had been missing in action in Vietnam since 1968. "He was missing in action all these years and they finally located his remains," Jewell James said.

• In Denver, Colo., the travelers stayed over in the same hotel as volunteer firefighters from California, who were making a similar Sept. 11 anniversary trek across the country to the crash sites.

Courageous passengers

During the journey, Ramona James said, she came to see a link between the Flight 93 passengers and her father's decorated Vietnam War service.

"Now I have a different understanding of the Shanksville crash. They had taken control of their destiny ... they made the choice to give up their lives. They gave up their lives for the country.

"We don't have the authority to give them a Purple Heart, but (the pole) is a symbolic way of saying, 'We see you, in our eyes and our hearts, as veterans.' "

Reach Kari Shaw at kari.shaw@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2290.



Honoring Pole looks over Pa. crash site
SACRED SPOT: Gathering at the Honoring Pole are some of the people who participated in the ceremony Sunday afternoon at the Shanksville (Pa.) community grove, where the totem pole carved by Lummi Nation artists was installed. They are (from left): Jennifer Farley, White House representative, Shanksville Mayor Ernest Stull, and Lummi master carvers Jewel and Doug James flanking organizer Kurt Russo. VERLE FRITZ DAILY AMERICAN


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