[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 183 (Thursday, November 9, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7148-S7149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Tribute to Alaska Native Veterans

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, as you know, I have been coming to the 
Senate floor pretty much every week for month after month to highlight 
someone in my State whom we call the Alaskan of the Week. It is someone 
who does something important, either for their community or the State 
or the country, and oftentimes they don't get a lot of recognition. The 
purpose of this is to say: Look at what these people are doing for 
Alaska, for America, for their community.
  My State is known for many things: its physical beauty, incredible 
hunting and fishing, adventuresome spirit, size--you don't want me 
going there. I have difficult conversations with my colleagues from 
Texas on occasion about the different sizes of our respective States, 
but I will not go into detail

[[Page S7149]]

here. These are all things we have in Alaskan space, but the thing that 
really makes us a great place to live is our people--strong, resilient, 
kind people all across our State who look out for each other, often in 
harsh weather conditions.
  We are a patriotic State. I know everybody here claims that, and that 
is great. We all are.
  Nowhere is the spirit of sacrifice and patriotism more apparent than 
in our veterans across the State. In Alaska, in Missouri--the Presiding 
Officer's State--we are all celebrating that, and we are going to 
celebrate that this weekend, going home for Veterans Day.
  In Alaska, we like to talk about our veterans. We also like to talk 
about the fact that we have more veterans per capita than any other 
State in the country. So it is a very patriotic place--full of service.
  In every city, village, and every community across Alaska, you will 
find proud veterans, many of them working tirelessly together to make 
sure they get the help and support that our veterans need. A lot of 
times that happens with the older vets--Vietnam-era vets. They come to 
make sure the new vets get the help they need.
  To all of them: I salute your service and your sacrifice. Thank you 
so much for all you have done and continue to do for our country. Happy 
Veterans Day to all of Alaska's veterans. I can't wait to get home to 
celebrate in Fairbanks and Anchorage this weekend.
  It is not just Veterans Day that is approaching in Alaska. This month 
we are also celebrating Alaska Native Heritage Month, where there is 
much to celebrate. Almost 20 percent of the population of our great 
State is Alaska Natives. This is a group of people who, generation 
after generation, have what I call a special patriotism.
  What do I mean by that? Well, Alaska Natives serve at higher rates in 
the military--just like the lower 48. Native Americans have higher 
rates in the military than any other ethnic group in the country. This 
has been going on for generations--World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the 
Cold War, Iraq, and Afghanistan. When you think about it, it is 
special.
  Let's face it. In the forties, fifties, sixties, and seventies, even 
sometimes, unfortunately, today, the Federal Government has not always 
treated Alaska Natives well. Yet, generation after generation, they go 
off to the front to fight for this country. It is truly a special kind 
of patriotism and a unique tribute to the Alaska Native heritage we are 
supporting and celebrating this month.
  I thought it was fitting today to name as our Alaskan of the Week--to 
make it a collective tribute for all Alaska Natives who have served 
their country in the military, and it is thousands, to make them 
collectively the Alaskans of the Week as we look to celebrate Veterans 
Day.
  Mr. President, here is a little bit of history. I know you know this, 
but a lot of Americans don't. During World War II, Alaska was the only 
State in the Union to be invaded and occupied by the Japanese, so we 
had big military battles in the Aleutian Island chain of Alaska to 
throw off the invaders of our American territory. Thousands of Alaska 
Natives volunteered to protect their homeland and to defend their 
country overseas. Across the State, whether they were in the Alaska 
Territorial Guard, warriors overseas, code talkers who served with the 
Marines and others--they were as old as 80 and as young as 12.
  This is a great story. It shows the warrior ethic. Alaska Native 
women, after the outbreak of World War II, originally enrolled in the 
Alaska Territorial Guard before they realized that women weren't 
allowed to enroll. In fact, the best sharpshooter in Alaska's 
Territorial Guard was a woman named Laura Beltz Wright of Haycock, AK.
  Here is how the late, great Jerome Trigg--an Alaska Native and a 
marine--put it in 1968, at the height of the Vietnam war, when he was 
testifying in front of the U.S. Congress on a very important piece of 
legislation called the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. He was the 
president of the Arctic Native Brotherhood and, as I mentioned, a proud 
marine.
  In front of a bunch of Senators, he stated as follows:

       We have showed our patriotism as proudly as any Americans 
     on earth. We have answered the call of duty with pride in 
     serving [our country]. We answered the call in [World War] II 
     100 percent. Every man in every village--old and young--
     volunteered with the Alaska National Guard.

  Remember, this was in 1968 that he was testifying. Then he said:

       I have never heard of an Alaska Native burning the draft 
     card or burning our nation's flag.

  We are patriots. That service, as I mentioned, didn't end after World 
War II. Alaska Natives have served in every conflict--the Korean war 
and in droves during the Vietnam war.
  I was honored to be in Southeast Alaska this past summer in a Native 
village called Hoonah. It is a beautiful place. There was a documentary 
I saw recently. It documented the classes in 1968 and 1969 in that 
small Native village in a film called ``Hunting and Wartime.'' It was 
about how almost every single male high school student in Hoonah--every 
one--went to go fight in Vietnam. That is incredible. It is special 
patriotism.
  Let me tell you a quick, more up-to-date story. We had the Secretary 
of Interior, Ryan Zinke--a combat vet, a Navy SEAL, a heroic man 
himself--come to Alaska this summer. I asked him to meet with a bunch 
of Alaska Native veterans, particularly our Vietnam veterans, who had 
an issue that the Department of Interior has been working on for years. 
I wanted him to hear about it firsthand.
  It was a very touching meeting. Some in the room talked about what it 
was like to be in their villages--places they had never left--when they 
were 17 and 18 and 19. Then, a few days later, they were in a steamy 
jungle, thousands and thousands of miles away, in Vietnam. Some talked 
about what it was like coming back and not feeling that they had the 
support of their country, others talked about the difficulty of 
readjusting to life back in Alaska after their service in Vietnam and 
some of the discrimination they received when they came back home, but 
even though they went through this hardship, even though they went 
through some of these very difficult times in the late sixties and 
early seventies, not one of them said they had made a mistake in 
serving their country. They were proud, patriotic warriors, and to this 
day that is what they are.

  Secretary Zinke said, after he left that meeting, he began it as 
their Secretary of Interior, and he left as a brother in arms.
  I am so honored to be able to serve these great Alaskans and to 
celebrate them as our Alaskans of the Week, just like I know everybody 
in America is going to be proud to go home and celebrate with their 
veterans.
  Once again, for our Alaska Native veterans, thank you for all you 
have done for our country, and thank you for being our Alaskans of the 
Week.