National Native American Veterans Memorial

By / Jessica Kirby

RedLand Sheet Metal and its Local 124 workforce take pride in creating a piece of history.

The National Native American Veterans Memorial sits on the grounds of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC. It is a tribute to Native American heroes, recognized for the first time on a national scale for enduring and distinguished service in every branch of the US military.

For Henry and Tammy Adams, SMACNA Oklahoma City members and owners of RedLand Sheet Metal, along with their Local 124 workforce, it was a project of great importance and honour that goes back to their roots.

Tammy Adams is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and so were her parents. Her father was a navy veteran of the Korean War. “In Native culture, all tribes have warrior societies, and service in the military and to one’s country is very important,” she says. “It is important to know that Native men and women, although a minority in the United States, serve at the highest number per capita among other groups. It is honoured to serve your country, and I am proud of my father’s service. So, this project was very important to us.”

The memorial, called Warriors’ Circle of Honor, is a circle (or “hoop,” an important Native concept) that is 12 feet across and was constructed of stainless steel over about 2,500 person hours.

Warriors’ Circle of Honor was designed by self-taught Indigenous artist Harvey Pratt, who is a citizen of the

Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and a veteran who served in Vietnam as a US Marine in Air Rescue and Security. He is recognized by the Cheyenne People as an outstanding Southern Cheyenne, and he was inducted as a traditional Peace Chief—the Cheyenne Nation’s highest honor.

The circle is set vertically on top of a low, carved granite base that is fashioned to resemble a ceremonial drum. Water flows continuously outward from the center of the drum, and a burner is built into the hoop so a fire may be lit on ceremonial occasions. A circular resting area surrounds the monument, offering space for meditation and quiet reflection.

Visitors travel a surrounding walkway called the Path of Harmony and enter the monument through openings at any of the four cardinal directions. This respects different cultural practices regarding the appropriate direction from which to enter the central space. Visitors may leave prayer ties on four vertical stainless steel spears with bronze tips. The seals of the five branches of the armed forces are on a nearby wall.

“This was a true passion project for us,” Tammy Adams says. “It was important to me and my family. We are very involved in the Native community, and having this kind of memorial to recognize Native veterans in Washington, DC, the nation’s capital, is wonderful.”

RedLand Sheet Metal was approached by 1902 Sheet Metal (previously Swanda Brothers, Inc.) to partner on the project.

Jim Brown, vice president of 1902 Sheet Metal, was offered the opportunity to bid on the project through a nationwide competition and thought immediately of his long-time friends at RedLand Sheet Metal for the stainless steel fabrication.

RedLand completed the fabrication and 1902 Sheet Metal handled materials ordering and logistics, including coordinating the shipping and installation. The work took place during COVID, when even procuring enough 3/8-inch gauge stainless steel was a challenge.

Lamar Lester, Local 124 member and foreperson on the project, says that at first he thought the memorial would be just another project. “Then the Smithsonian people came, the architects and the artist came in, and the project gained momentum very quickly.”

The hoop’s size presented many challenges. “It is not something you can just flip over when you need to weld the other side,” Lester says. “It is a huge monument, so it had to be welded, ground, and polished in position. The radiuses were 3/16” so the tolerances were very tight, but we were able to achieve those.”

The sheer weight of the monument called for careful installation logistics, as a crane had to lift it over the trees in the living landscape located just east of the museum.

“Once in place, it was measured with a GPS satellite to make sure the monument is shooting straight to the sky and level with the universe,” Lester says. “It was tack welded in place overnight and freed from its supports the next day. They came back to shoot it with the GPS again, and it was within the margin.”

The complexity and minuscule room for error that is common on historical monuments and other projects of cultural significance require well-trained, highly skilled craftspersons.

“You can’t just throw anyone new or inexperienced on a project like this,” Lester says. “Between all of us, we brought more than 100 years combined experience. It took a lot of welltrained, talented individuals, and not just in the fabricators, but in the management team that led it, too.”

Tammy and Henry Adams and their parents were all union members in their industries. Henry Adams was a Local 124 member for more than two decades and an apprenticeship instructor for 12 before he opened the doors at RedLand Sheet Metal.

The company opened as a non-union shop because it was very small and stainless steel is a niche market. But very quickly the Adams’ realized that the non-union workforce didn’t have the skill level the company required to be successful.

“Henry said we would have to go union for the trained and skilled workforce, and since we did that with Local 124, we have the best people,” Adams says. “Our roots are union, and that part of our careers and history is so important. Now we are SMACNA members, and that is important to us, too. We have been on both sides of the table, so it is important to us that our employees are treated well and that they know we value them.”

Both Adams and Lester acknowledge that when they think about the significance of where this memorial is located, among other monuments to American veterans, and in a place where so many will see and enjoy it, it is almost overwhelming.

“As a Native woman, to have this recognition of Native veterans in Washington, DC, is very meaningful,” Adams says. “Our contribution to this country, our history, has gone overlooked. That is a changing trend, and our tribes are becoming more powerful politically. We are getting the information out there.”

“Once it was installed and we saw it there, in the shadow of the capital, the magnitude of this project hit us,” Lester says. “It was the project of a lifetime.”

The National Native Veterans Memorial was dedicated with a procession and ceremony on the National Mall on November 11, 2022. Learn more at americanindian.si.edu/ visit/washington/nnavm ▪