2/20/2006: Wake for an Indian warrior

[Undertoad]

The hearse is exchanged for a wooden wagon.

xoB sends along this touching and interesting slideshow from the Rocky Mountain News, in which a 22-year-old Marine and American Indian is saluted after his combat death. I defy anyone, pro- or anti-war, lefty or righty, patriot or hater, to read the full story and not have a tear in your eye by the end of the last segment. As a preview, here's something from a middle segment:

Upon their return from Iraq, tribe members receive the highest honor for bravery: an eagle feather. If they are injured in combat, the feather may be stained red with blood.

Before the first night's ceremony began, a 65-year-old Vietnam veteran named John Around Him looked at the staff, and then at Brett Lundstrom's flag-draped casket.

"He earns the American flag from his government," he said. "He earns the eagle feather from his people."

Near 11 on Saturday night, the gymnasium fell silent. Along with his first and last eagle feather, Cpl. Lundstrom was about to receive something even more enduring.

"This evening I want to take a few minutes of your time to name my grandson," said Birgil Kills Straight, Cpl. Lundstrom's great-uncle.

"Before he enters the spirit world, it's important for him to have an Indian name, because that's how the ancestors will know him," he said.

Earlier that night, Kills Straight had gone to an Inipi, a sweat lodge, to pray for the name, and to ask the spirits to guide the fallen warrior.

After the ceremony, long after midnight, the Marines would take Lundstrom's body into the tepee, where Lakota beliefs hold that the spirits of Lundstrom's ancestors would communicate with his.

First, Kills Straight said, they needed to know who he was.

"His name is Wanbli Isnala," Kills Straight said, and then translated: "Lone Eagle."

With that, he took the eagle feather, walked to the open casket, and placed it on the Marine's chest.

"He, alone, above everything else, is an eagle," Kills Straight said. "He will fly to the highest reaches of the universe. He may bring back news to us in our dreams."