Powwow honors all veterans

Powwow honors all veterans

BY BECCY TANNER
The Wichita Eagle
For the past 21 years, Charlie Harjo has participated in every powwow hosted by the Wichita Kansas Intertribal Warrior Society.

Harjo, who is of Choctaw and Creek heritage, was a soldier in Vietnam.

On Sunday he was one of the veterans participating in the gourd dancing at the Veterans Day Powwow.

When Harjo was young, his father used to tell him that he hoped his son would never see what his eyes had seen.

"I never knew what he was talking about," said Harjo, 61, "until I saw it in Vietnam."

In Vietnam, Harjo said, he watched fellow soldiers die, including one named Sgt. Flowers.

"He was wounded and lying there and looked over at me and said, 'Don't forget me, Chief.' Back then, they called every Indian 'Chief.' "

When Harjo came back to the United States in 1969, he said, he tried to forget Sgt. Flowers.
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