Museum of the American Indian to Commemorate Memorial Day with Service and Sacrifice Program in DC

The Smithsonian’s Museum of the Americian Indian in Washington, D.C. will commemorate Memorial Day on Monday, May 26, 2025. The Museum will honor Indigenous service members who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

Visitors will hear from Native veterans, make prayer ties to remember loved ones, visit the exhibition Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces.

You can pay your respects during a wreath-laying ceremony at the National Native American Veterans Memorial.

Events will be held at various times throughout Memorial Day:

SCHEDULE

Level 4, Patrons Lounge

10 AM–5 PM | Veterans Hospitality Suite

• Veterans are invited to gather in this space for conversation or take a break from the day's events; seating and light refreshments provided.

Level 3, imagiNATIONS Activity Center

10 AM–4 PM

• Families are invited to visit the Activity Center throughout the day, museum educators will be on hand to help young learners use the play-based interactive experiences.

Level 1, Potomac Atrium

10 AM-5:30 PM | Information Tables and Exhibition

• Office of Tribal Government Relations, United States Department of Veterans Affairs
  • Veronica Duncan (San Carlos Apache, Blackfeet), Program Specialist from the Office of Tribal Government Relations (OTGR) will be on hand to share how the OTGR works to strengthen and build closer relations between VA, tribal governments, and other key federal, state, private, and non-profit partners in an effort to effectively and respectfully serve Veterans across Indian Country. This work is done in the spirit of government-to-government consultation and collaboration, respectful of the special relationship that exists between the United States and tribal governments.

• National Native American Veterans Memorial
  • See a small-scale model of the memorial design, learn about some facts behind its creation, and pick up bookmarks featuring the stories of Indigenous service members across military branches.

• Why We Serve: Native Americans in the United States Armed Forces
  • This banner exhibition honors the generations of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian members of the United States Armed Forces, and commemorates the National Native American Veterans Memorial, dedicated at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

10:30 AM | Opening Prayer

• Father and son Ralph and Dennis Zotigh (both Kiowa/Isanti Dakota/Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo) perform an honor song and prayer to honor fallen Native service members.

11 AM-3 PM | Prayer Ties Hands-On Activity

• Learn about the importance and tradition of making prayer ties with museum staff. Then, make your own to remember and honor loved ones who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving in the military. Materials will be provided. Completed prayer ties will be tied to the four lances that flank the National Native American Veterans Memorial outside on the museum’s grounds.

Level 1, Rasmuson Theater, americanindian.si.edu…

11 AM | Grace Thorpe: A Life of Service

• World War II veteran, Native rights activist, and daughter of famed athlete Jim Thorpe, Grace Thorpe (Sac and Fox, 1921–2008) served in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) from 1943 to 1945. Following her military service, Grace devoted herself to raising her family and started working in public relations. In the late 1960s, Grace shifted her focus to Native American issues, working as a conference coordinator for the National Congress of American Indians and leading public relations for Indians of All Tribes during the occupation of Alcatraz. Grace remained politically active throughout the 1970s and ’80s, in addition to fighting for the restoration of her father’s Olympic titles. In later years, Grace served the Sac and Fox Nation as a tribal judge and health commissioner. She also became an environmental activist and opposed storing nuclear waste on tribal lands. Throughout her long life of service, Thorpe meticulously gathered a personal archive of interviews, articles and photographs now housed at the National Museum of the American Indian. Hear from Rachel Menyuk, processing archivist, to learn how archival collections like Thorpe’s can reveal the complex stories that make up a person’s life. Then, visit the exhibition InSight: Photos and Stories from the Archives on Level 2 to learn more about the museum’s archival holdings.

1 PM | Circle of Honor

• In many Native communities, military service is a family tradition. Native Hawaiian Allen Kale‘iolani Hoe descends from the ancient warrior chiefs of Hawaii, blended with ancestors of New England, California, Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany, China and Japan. A combat veteran having served in the U.S. Army; Vietnam (1967-68), Hoe earned the Combat Medics Badge, Purple Heart Medal and Bronze Star Medal. He and wife Adele S. Cabos are the proud parents of sons, 1st Lt. Nainoa Kealiihokuhelelani Hoe, who gave his “last full measure of devotion” on 22 January 2005 in Mosul, Iraq; and 1SG Nakoa Kealiimakanihoolua Hoe, HHC 100/442 INF. Curator Rebecca Trautmann introduces Hoe and museum specialist Rachelle B. Pablo (Diné) as they discuss his experience as a Native veteran, a Gold Star father, and a consultant for the development and design of the National Native American Veterans Memorial.

Outdoors, Welcome Plaza

4 PM | Wreath Laying Ceremony at the National Native American Veterans Memorial

• Join museum leadership and staff on the Welcome Plaza as a memorial wreath is laid at the base of the National Native American Veterans Memorial. Allen Kale‘iolani Hoe will offer brief remarks followed by an honor song and drum performance by Ralph and Dennis Zotigh. Bugler Mary Phillips (Pueblo of Laguna/ Umoⁿhoⁿ (Omaha)Tribe of Nebraska) will play “Taps”. The memorial’s flame will remain lit until 6 PM for visitors to pay their respects.

Image: Photo by Norwood Photography for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian

Major funding provided by The Boeing Company.