NATIVE AMERICANS WHO SERVED IN WARTIME

_More than 12,000 Native Americans served during World War I, though they weren't official U.S. citizens.

_More than 44,500 served in World War II, a greater per-capita rate than any other ethnic group.

_More than 50,000 served in Vietnam, 90 percent of them as volunteers

MEDAL OF HONOR WINNERS

At least 11 Native Americans have won the military's highest award for bravery.

When you display one of these beautiful Medicine Wheel Decals you will be showing your support for Indian Veterans, POW & MIAs and their customs and spirituality.

Because of the threat posed by American military forces, the Vietnamese could not be certain that the emergence of additional American POWs after the official prisoner exchange in February 1973 "would not trigger a return of American B-52s over Hanoi" (Daly). This perception of the North Vietnamese was strengthened by an order issued by the U.S. Department of State to the Department of Defense on April 12, 1973, which stated "There are no more prisoners in Southeast Asia. They are all dead" (Stevenson 19).

This government position, a "presumptive finding" that "The sad conclusion is that there is no evidence that . . . missing Americans are still alive," was reaffirmed in 1975 in the Mongomery report of Congress (Dolan 43). Although half the membership of the Congressional committee which produced the Mongomery report publicly protested this conclusion and held that there were good reasons for not "closing the books" on the POW issue, President Jimmy Carter chose to ignore their protests and accept the conclusion that all American POWs in Southeast Asia were dead (Dolan 48-49).

The medicine wheel is sacred, native people believe, because the Great Spirit caused everything in nature to be round. The Sun, Sky, Earth and Moon are round. Thus, man should look upon the Medicine Wheel (circle of life) as sacred. It is the symbol of the circle that marks the edge of the world and therefore, the Four Winds that travel there. It is also the symbol of the year. The Sky, the Night, and the Moon go in a circle above the Sky, therefore, the Circle is a symbol of these divisions of time. It is the symbol of all times throughout creation.

A Medicine Wheel, one of the most powerful and cherished symbols of Native American belief. A Medicine Wheel is an ancient place of prayer sacred to Native Americans, symbolizing the totality of existence. The Medicine Wheel is a sacred space designed to amplify the power of prayers and connect you with all the Grandmothers, Grandfathers, Mother Earth, Moon, Sun, Sky, and the Creator, on the eternal circle of life.

The Medicine Wheel is one of the few sacred spaces indigenous to North America. There were once about 20,000 medicine wheels in North America, before the Europeans came. Today, most have been lost or destroyed. All, like the Big Horn Medicine Wheel, are revered and sacred places.