The Heard Museum in downtown Phoenix remembered Indigenous servicemembers during an annual Memorial Day observance at its American Indian Veterans National Memorial.
On this hot Monday morning, Kiowa-Comanche singer Kenneth Cozad Sr. chants a series of honor songs. Each melody is meant to pay tribute to the fallen as the Oklahoma native beats upon a drum made from rawhide.
One of his patriotic tunes is called “Star and Stripes.”
It’s inspired by the late WWII Kiowa Code Talker Leonard “Red Wolf” Cozad Sr.
“My grandpa, he had a thought came to him about this flag here,” Cozad shared, “that our folks fought for this red, white, and blue, he said. Forever and ever, there should be peace.”
Much like the Navajo Nation, close to a few dozen other tribes devised unbreakable linguistic codes amid the World Wars, including the Cherokee, Choctaw, Hopi and Mohawk.
Instead of his music simply being “stored away in memory,” Cozad is thankful to share his all of his songs on this somber holiday, “because we don’t just be singing songs, just to be singing them, there’s always has to be a purpose.”
“It’s why we’re gathered here — in remembrance of all of our folks.”
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