MEMORIAL DAY
Honoring Those Who have Given Their Lives for Our Freedom

by Levi Rickert, editor-in-chief in Native Currents. Discussion »

Line of Duty

Native News Network takes this opportunity to recognize all United States servicemen and servicewomen who have given their lives for the freedom we enjoy as Americans. Also we honor the American Indian veterans who have heroically served in the US armed services.

The following information was released by the National Congress of American Indians:

Hundreds of thousands of tribal members have served in the U.S. military in the last century, making vital contributions to the defense of the nation.

The Pentagon estimates that since 2001, 61 American Indians and Alaskan Natives have died fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq; close to 450 have been wounded. It is also estimated that nearly 24,000 American Indian and Alaska Native active duty personnel serve across the Armed Forces.

The most recent American Indian/Alaska Native service member to be killed in the line of duty was US Marine Lance Corporal Joe Michael Jackson from the Gila River Indian Community and the Yakama Reservation. He died April 24, 2011; killed by an improvised explosive device while helping to clear a trail of mines on a steep slope in Afghanistan Helmand Province’s Sangin District.

The following data was released and updated by the Pentagon in May 2011:

posted May 28, 2011 1:58 pm et