Miyamura statue ready to be unveiled

Congressional Medal of Honor Hershey Miyamura laughs while Navajo sculpture Oreland Joe works on the facial features of a clay statue of Miyamura on Nov. 30, 2007at the Gallup Cultural Center Art Museum. [photo by Brian Leddy / Independent]

By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — Friday will be a red-letter day for Hershey Miyamura.

That’s the day that Gallup’s only Congressional Medal of Honor recipient will find out what the statue being built of him will look like. According to the Web site cmohs.org, there are 105 living Congressional Medal of Honor recipients.

“I’m kind of anxious to see what it looks like,” he said, adding that he saw a model but understands some changes have been made in it since then.

The statue is going to unveiled between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. Friday in the parking lot of the Gallup Cultural Center as part of an event celebrating the start of the “Native Warriors Run” to Washington.

This is one of numerous runs being conducted by Native Americans and others as part of the Memorial Day celebration on May 28 in the nation’s capital. Between 150 and 300 Native motorcyclists are expected to start the run from Gallup.

Rhonda Ray, special projects coordinator for the Southwest Indian Foundation, said that sponsors of the event decided the unveiling of Miyamura’s monument would fit in nicely with the start of the run.

Oreland Joe, the sculptor who made the Miyamura monument as well as the ones for the Navajo Code Talkers, said Monday that he plans on driving the statue down from Colorado where this week the foundry is putting on the medals and doing the final touches on the 6 1/2-foot, 700-pound, bronze statute.

After the ceremony, the statute will be transported to the new Miyamura High School — former Gallup Junior High — where it will be given a place of honor at the school.

This is Joe’s 10th monument and the one thing he has learned over the years, he said, is that “research is quite important.”

He has met with Miyamura and his family several times during the process and has talked about the importance of getting the medals right, according to location and size. He used a 1953 photo of Miyamura as his guide. The photo shows Miyamura at the age of 27 at the White House.

The statue cost about $50,000, with most of this coming from state grants arranged by state Sen. Lidio Rainaldi and state Rep. John Pena. With the help of Gallup Mayor Harry Mendoza, a fund-raising drive was begun to get Gallup business support for the project.

As a result, Pena said, enough money was raised to pay for the cost of the statue. In fact, more than enough money was raised, he said, because of a generous contribution from Gallup trader Bill Richardson, that there are now talks going on with school officials about using the excess to start up a scholarship fund for Miyamura High School students.

Pena said it was important for Gallup and the new high school to raise the funds to make he statue of Miyamura a reality.

“A lot of the kids who go there don’t know what he got his medals for,” Pena said. “Even their parents may not be aware.”

But having the statue there will give them a point of reference and will allow them, said Pena, to appreciate what Miyamura did for his country as well as for Gallup.

There are also plans to create a limited series of smaller versions of the Miyamura statue. Joe said the cost of these 18-inch high bronze statutes and how many will be made are still up in the air.

The plans for the celebration Friday, however, are definite.
Bikers who will be a part of the Native Warriors Run are expected to get to the cultural center on Friday between 7 a.m. and 7:30 a.m.

The actual ceremony will begin at 8 a.m. with opening remarks by Bill McCarthy, CEO of the Southwest Indian Foundation and Rainaldi, followed by speeches from state Rep. Patty Lundstrom, Miyamura and Joe.

That will be followed by the unveiling of the statue.

At 9 a.m., the bikers are scheduled to depart the cultural center for the Acoma Pueblo, the first leg of their trip to Washington.

Information on the event or the statue: Ray, (505) 722-3730 or T.J. Anderson, (505) 726-0427.