There are more than 140,000 Native Americans alive today who are combat veterans.

Not much thought has been given to this select group of veterans, according to Michael Coon.

Coon was an Airborne Paratrooper during the Vietnam Era, Feb. 26, 1971, to Dec. 14, 1973.

His father, Phillip W. Coon passed away in 2014. During World War to he was a survivor of the Bataan Death March.

His son, the late Staff Sergeant Michael Keith Coon, serve in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Persian Gulf. He passed away in 2015.

“On Sept. 17, at 1:15 there will be a ceremony at Arlington Cemetery, and I will lay wreaths in honor of my father and son.”

Coon, member of the Mvskoke Creek Tribe, has worked diligently for the past five years to honor his father and son, and all Native American Veterans, in another way.

He is commander of Midwest Region 5 of the National American Indian Veterans (NAIV) organization, a region whose headquarters is in Glenpool.

Region 5 covers Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri.

Tribes across the nation have been working for decades to gain recognition for their veterans, according to Coon who says the 140,000plus veterans is the largest ethnic group of veterans in the country.

“Military veterans get proper recognition in society, but Native veterans do not always get the same recognition,” Coon said. “We’re the highest ethnic group to serve in the nation. I think it’s time we finally get recognized.”

NAIV was established in 2004 in South Dakota on the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal reservation.

Coon said NAIV has worked for 20 years to gain federal recognition for its charter, just as the Italian-American, Polish- American and Catholic- American groups have been recognized.

The long struggle for recognition came to fruition on March 14 when Coon and representatives of more than 50 tribes attended a ceremony witnessing the NAIV Charter being given Congressional approval at the Hart Senate Building in Washington D.C.

The Charter has since been signed by Presi-dent Biden, Coon said “The charter will better help all Native veterans,” Coon said.

NAIV is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to working on behalf of all Native American veterans.

Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-NM) first introduced the legislation in May 2021.

“After decades of hard work U.S. Senate Bill 1725 passed, granting federal charter to NAIV,” said Coon, who joined the more than 50 tribal representatives in Washington to witness the event.

To commemorate the occasion, Coon asked the tribal representatives to sign a deerskin which a friend of his in New Mexico prepared for him.

Coon’s region covers tribes in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas.

NAIV was founded by 91-year-old Donald E. Loudner, a member of the Hunkpati Sioux Tribe in South Dakota.

Loudner joined the U.S. Army in 1950, working in code encryption. After the Korean War he continued to serve in the Army until he retired in 1983 at Chief Warrant Officer.

Today, he is active in the American Legion, Disabled Veterans of America, and is a wellknown advocate for Native American veterans Loudner chose Coon five years ago to be Region 5 Commander because of Coon’s activism in Native American causes.

Loudner once commented that, “Native veterans have served our county from Valley Forge to Afghanistan and with this action, Congress has shown Native American veterans past and present are getting the respect that is so well earned.”