Navajo Medal of Honor fails

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The intent was good, but many Navajo veterans did not support a Diné Nation Medal of Honor, Navajo Nation Council delegates said, and in the end, the delegates didn’t support it either. The Council voted it down with 62-20 Tuesday morning.

The legislation to establish the policies and procedures for a medal of honor to be issued for Navajo veterans from the Navajo Nation was sponsored by Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan, who presented it before Council, and Young Jeff Tom, Mariano Lake , Smith Lake. The process to issue a medal would have begun with a chapter resolution for a potential honoree with the three branch chiefs approving and presenting the medal.

The problem was that many veterans did not agree with creating a medal of honor issued by the Navajo government. The legislation was first presented during the Council’s summer session in July and was tabled for the sponsor to get input from veterans during the Navajo Nationwide veterans’ conference.

The speaker said that his office put out a survey in cooperation with the Navajo Department of Veterans Affairs during the veterans’ conference. According to the speaker’s office, 59 percent of the veterans were aware of the Diné Nation Medal of Honor and nearly 53 percent said it was an appropriate name.

However, the speaker’s office also received resolutions disputing the medal, but Morgan’s staff pointed out the opinion was not representative of all veterans.

“Although I support this particular initiative, I have to go with what my comrades said,” David Shondee,

Chilchinbeto/Kayenta, said. Shondee voted against the proposed legislation.

During the discussion, the Council discovered it had not voted on a proposed amendment by Charles Damon II, Breadsprings/Churchrock, to rename it a medal of valor when it was tabled. After Ida Nelson, Red Rock, successfully challenged Speaker Pro Tem Larry Anderson’s, Fort Defiance, decision to not count her vote because she didn’t specifically raise a point of order immediately when her voting equipment wasn’t working, the vote was a tie to change the name. As the speaker pro tem, Anderson, a veteran himself, voted in favor of the change to break the tie.

But even renaming the medal didn’t stop the legislation from failing.

Johnny Naize, Tselani-Cottonwood/Nazlini, said that the criteria seemed to be “very lax” in determining who would receive the honor.

Though the legislation did not pass, the speaker’s office has a design for the medal, which was done by Sheldon Preston. The office had issued a request for proposals in January for artists to design the medal for a monetary award of $70,000. The Council had authorized $75,000 for the design of the medal in July 2007, and $5,000 of that was set aside for administrative costs, according to the speaker’s office.