Chief was a central figure in the original 1921 dedication.
Among those who lined up to place flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery was a great grandson of Apsaalooke (Crow) Chief Plenty Coups, who had been chosen to represent native people in the 1921 dedication of the sacred site at Arlington National Cemetery.
“I am honored,” said 61-year-old U.S. Army veteran Gordon Plain Bull Jr. of Montana, whose lineage includes Assiniboine, Sioux, Cree, Nakota and Lakota people of the Great Plains. “Two of my sisters are here, too. And so are cousins.”
Native American Indians from multiple nations came to Arlington and Washington, D.C., during Tomb of the Unknown Soldier centennial activities and for Veterans Day this week.
Plain Bull Jr. said he was proud to be at Arlington on the first day of a rare opportunity for members of the public to directly place flowers at the Tomb. Tribal members soon gathered in the amphitheater to sing in memory of past warriors who served in the U.S. Armed Forces.
The Tomb, many have said, could contain any Unknown Soldier. “There could be a Native American in that tomb,” Plain Bull Jr. said.
Chief Plenty Coups, a respected warrior and skilled negotiator, placed a war bonnet and a coup stick on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in ceremonies Nov. 11, 1921. Those artifacts remain in the Arlington National Cemetery collection and are currently on exhibit at the Memorial Amphitheater Display Room.
Upwards of 15,000 American Indians served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War I.
In an October 1921 letter, according to the Arlington National Cemetery website, Secretary of War Joseph W. Weeks wrote that it was extremely important to have Native American participation in the original Tomb dedication ceremonies. U.S. citizenship was not granted to Native Americans until 1924.
“What more fitting than this race of people … should have a place in the ceremony, for doubtless hundreds of unknown Indian graves (are) scattered from the sea to the Alps,” Weeks wrote. “It will give added distinction to the ceremony – the fact that the first American warrior should lay his tribute on the grave of the latest hero of the war – an Unknown American Soldier.”
- Honor & Remembrance