A hero’s welcome for Whitehorse
Young soldier, wounded twice, returns to Dinétah

Nineteen-year-old Jason Whitehorse gets a squeeze on the cheek from Linda Montoya of Fort Defiance during the Navajo/Hopi Honor Ride event on Thursday. Whitehorse, who just returned from Iraq after being injured in an explosion, received two Purple Heart medals for his work there. [photo by Brian Leddy / Independent]

By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — An injured soldier who recently arrived home was given a hero’s welcome Thursday evening at the Navajo Nation Veterans Memorial Park .

U.S. Army Pfc. Jason Whitehorse, a graduate of Gallup High School, will be the recipient of two Purple Hearts. The Purple Heart is a combat decoration awarded to members of the U.S. armed forces “who are wounded by an instrument of war in the hands of the enemy.”

Though he was still on crutches because of injuries sustained in Iraq on March 27, he rode in with the Navajo/Hopi Honor Run motorcycle riders from Shiprock.
Whitehorse, 19, arrived in Albuquerque on May 10, where his mother, Lorene Yazzie, awaited him.

“It feels pretty good,” he said about being back. He added about the bike ride from Shiprock, “It was nice seeing all the scenery on the way here.”

His plan now, he said, is to “spend some time at home and try to see everybody before I head back to my station.”

His mother and his brother Michael accompanied him to Thursday’s ceremony at the veterans’ park. It was his mother who got him to join the honor run, even though he was reluctant at first.

“Afterward, he said thank you,” she said.

At first, she was against her youngest son — “the baby of the family” — joining the Army.

“He told me that he always wanted to face a challenge and he said he got it,” she said.

Now, she is glad to see him home.

 “I feel very happy that he’s home safe and I hope he doesn’t have to go back again,” Yazzie said.

She added, “I’m very proud of him.”

Mike Touchine, a frequent participant in local honor runs, helped to bring Whitehorse in from Shiprock.

“He was so excited about this,” he said. Touchine was one of the people who encouraged the family to join in the honor run.

“It makes you think —  just based on how young the individual is. He’s only 19 and he’s been wounded twice already, which a lot of times we try not to think about it, try not to say that it will happen,” Larry Noble, a coordinator for the Navajo/Hopi Honor Run, said.

Noble, who is also the chairman of the Human Services Committee which has legislative oversight on veterans’ affairs, said that the veterans’ affairs sub-committee is looking into amendments that would cover active-duty personnel and those armed forces who are injured because the current policies don’t really include them.

He said the committee wants to get some of the amendments done by the end of the year.