DENVER—Despite a history of persecution, two Indian tribes are staging a memorial Friday and Saturday in honor of all soldiers killed or missing in action since the American Revolution.
“All those people made a sacrifice so we could become a nation,” said Bradley Hight, an Army veteran and a descendent of both the Ute Mountain and Southern Ute tribes.
He said his ancestors took revenge when they could. His grandfather was a war chief with the Utes who conducted what settlers called the Meeker Massacre in 1887. Utes were at war with the Army during one of the last major uprisings of the 19th century.
Ultimately both Ute tribes were forcibly moved from southern Colorado’s San Luis Valley and other areas to reservations in the Four Corners area.
A mountain in Saguache County near Villa Grove, about 120 miles southwest of Denver, will be named Mt. KIA-MIA on Friday. It stands for Killed in Action and Missing in Action. KIA-MIA has special meaning in the Ute language. “Kiya” is the verb stem for the word to play or to laugh.
The mountain, 11,293-feet high, is between Starvation and Silver creeks near the Chaffee County line.
Wendie Maez, a spokeswoman for Saguache County, said it issued a permit for the memorial at the intersection of U.S. 285 and Colorado 17 in the San Luis Valley.
The Air National Guard will perform a flyover Saturday. A ceremony that day will honor the Martinez family of Monte Vista, whose son was killed in Iraq in May.
The schedule is loose. “It’s sort of on Indian time. You can come when you like,” Hight said.
Hight said Indians have served in U.S. forces throughout the nation’s history, even before the United States became a county.
Hight’s family has provided soldiers for most of the foreign conflicts, and several were killed. “It was a hard decision to make—to risk your life—but we had to make the sacrifice,” said Hight.
“I was really angry when we got attacked,” Hight said of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He served during the Vietnam era.
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