Garrison Wiesbaden celebrates Native American Indian Heritage Month

Photo By Connie Dickey | Col. Michael Kaloostian, Commander of the 2nd Theater Signal Brigade presents a certificate to thank Stanton Falling for speaking at the Native American Indian Heritage Month observance Nov. 22 at the Clay Kaserne dining facility.  

WIESBADEN, HESSEN, GERMANY

11.23.2021

Story by Connie Dickey 

U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden   

WIESBADEN, Germany – The 2nd Theater Signal Brigade hosted the U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden celebration of Native American Indian Heritage Month, honoring American Indians and Alaskan Natives, with a cake cutting at the Garrison dining facility Nov. 22.

This observance gives us the chance to reflect on the achievements and contributions of Native Americans to the Army and to our nation. Embracing and celebrating diversity makes our Army stronger.

Guest speaker, Stanton Falling, talked about the American Indians who have served and those who are still serving in the military. Falling, a Cherokee Indian native, also talked about his years growing up on a Navajo Indian reservation in Arizona. He lives in Germany and has been a member of the Orchestra of the Hessisches Staatstheater in Wiesbaden since 1983.

The theme for this year’s observance is “Resilient and Enduring: We are Native People” and is reflected by the fact that Native American’s serve at five times the national average in the military.

“We have gone from defending the country from the U.S. Army to defending the country with the U.S. Army,” Falling said.

Falling spent most of his speech explaining the success of the Navajo Code Talkers during World War II.

“The Navajo language is not an easy language to learn, and the code talkers used unique words for certain things like ranks, aircraft, ships and such that no one could figure out. Even the American Soldiers could not figure it out,” he said.

“The code talkers proved their worth many times during the War.”

“Native Americans celebrate the fact that they are good Soldiers and they are still Warriors,” Falling added.

During World War II, more than 44,000 American Indians served in the U.S. military, most in the Army. During World War I, Choctaw and Comanche Soldiers pioneered code talking, which was expanded in World War II to create a military code that could not be broken by the enemy.

In 2013, 33 tribes were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of their dedication and valor as Code Talkers. Today there are 574 federally recognized tribes.

• Date Taken: 11.23.2021
• Date Posted: 11.23.2021 08:56
• Story ID: 409874
• Location: WIESBADEN, HESSEN, DE