“We have a home”
Old Scouts Veterans Memorial Building opens in White Shield
“We have a home now.”
That is what Gerilyn Yellow Bird, President of American Legion Post 253 Auxiliary, kept repeating as she discussed the opening of the Old Scouts Veterans Memorial Building in White Shield. Both Yellow Bird and Post 253 Commander were thrilled that construction had been completed on the Old Scouts Veterans Memorial Building in White Shield.
“It was a wonderful day, we have a home,” Yellow Bird said. ”It’s been more than 12 years in the works. We have had to compromise storing things everywhere, this is just wonderful. We have our own home, our own office, our own kitchen. It is wonderful.”
“This is a historic day for us,” Gillette said. “We didn’t have a home. I was a commander here 19 years ago and we all operated out of our homes. We used the tribal complex to store our weapons. It was difficult to manage what we had.”
Young Hawk-Bear Post 253 had made do with makeshift headquarters for decades when they had one at all and relied on members to store their flags, eagle staffs and other equipment in their homes. The new headquarters has offices for the Legion Post and the Auxiliary, the East Segment Veterans Affairs office, an armory, rooms for the Old Scouts and Deadgrass Society, plus a kitchen and conference room.
Photos of hundreds of veterans line the walls of the atrium. Inlaid on the stone floor is a brass line going east and west. Organized by branch of service, the photos on the north side of the room are of area veterans who are still living, while those on the south side are those who have passed on. East Segment Veterans Officer Bernadette White Bear is searching for names and photos of area veterans who aren’t in the collection year. She has about 45 pictures yet to hang up, but would like to find more. She is also seeking names of all MHA veterans for a granite memorial that will be located outside the building
entrance.
The building also has a half dozen
display cases that were built with museum quality climate control and UV protective glass. Headdresses, historic documents and other treasures will be on display to tell the story of White Shield’s veterans.
“We were very thrilled with that,” Yellow Bird said. “The war bonnets that are on display came from the first charter. So they are very old and fragile. Whatever is put in those displays will be preserved.”
“This is going to be Fort Berthold’s Arlington,” Gillette said. “Every year we will be having activities here and events for veterans coming homeand gatherings. This and the Old Scout Cemetery are well maintained and we are going to keep it that way. It will be a legacy for new veterans where they can read up on their relatives and warrior societies
from hundreds of years ago to today.” White Bear said the building was going to make a big difference in the lives of veterans and her ability to provide them the services they have earned. Her previous office was a part of a room in the community building near the new powwow grounds, and was hard to find as
well as cramped.
“I will be able to help veterans
with VA claims here.” she said. “I am also working to help people get headstones or get their DD-214s (discharge papers), we take care of the cemetery. But one of my primary things is I want the veterans to be able to come in here, sit down, sleep if they want, make their own coffee, hang out, just a place where a veteran can come and just relax. Eventually we will have a TV in here and a pool table. We may have poker nights. As long as they are a veteran they can come in and read, play chess, just sit and BS with each other, whatever they want to do.”
White Bear said the building has a telemedicine room. Once they get things worked out with the federal Veterans Administration, veterans can be seen by a doctor remotely and not have to travel to Fargo or Bismarck.
White Bear also appreciated how all the veterans groups will have offices in the building, making it easier to coordinate
events. “My office is huge and will have the space for whatever we need to do, I love it,” White Bear said. “The Legion has an office in here and an armory. The Auxiliary has an office, storage space, and they designed that kitchen themselves. Then we have a space for Old Scouts Society and Deadgrass Society to put their gear in. I hope the veterans start coming over more and more.”
Jason Morsette said the Old Scouts Society was established to honor the Arikara Scouts that rode with the 7th Calvary. He and some others are getting the group’s charter reactivated to honor them and make sure their memory is preserved.
“We want to reestablish what the older generation had,” Morsette said. “Now that a lot of them are gone, us kids didn’t take the initiative to carry on. But after our parents started passing away we figured we needed to carry on what they started. If we carry on that memory of the past it will always be part of this community, this tried. We can’t let our history fade into the past. It is up to this generation to step up.”
Veterans bring in the flags and eagle staffs at the opening ceremony for the Old Scouts Veterans Memorial Building in White Shield. Along with the Young Hawk-Bear Post 253, Fort Berthold VFW Post 9061, Johnson-Goodiron Legion Post 271 and Minehan Legion Post 49 participated in the ceremony. (Photo by Jerry W. Kram)
Morsette said at least 140 Arikara served as scouts with the 7th Calvary, including three who died at the Battle of Little Big Horn.
These rooms surround a large round atrium with a high dome with a huge skylight. The effect, Gillette said, was to remind people of the opening in the roof of an earth lodge. The room easily handled the more than 100 guests who attended the grand opening.
East Segment Tribal Business Council Representative Fred Fox said the Legion Post and Auxiliary have been working to get a veteran’s building for nearly 20 years and especially for the last dozen years. They were key to creating the design for the building and getting it built.
“The Legion, the Auxiliary, the Old Scout Society, and Deadgrass Society are the ones who put the work into the project and making sure it was under budget,” Fox said. “The Tribal Council wanted the building to honor our veterans andLegion,ourAuxiliary.Theywantedto do this for the community.”
Yellow Bird said the next big event for the Legion and Auxiliary will be for veterans attending the Arikara Celebration in July. After that, the bigevents for the Legion and Auxiliary are Veterans Day in November and the Christmas Social for Veterans.
“The next big thing for us is the powwow because we raise the flags every morning,” she said. “We take them down in the evening. If there is a veteran having a special, we will dance with them. In addition to that we do hospitality for veterans and have a tent for them.”
