Wrangell Native dance group joins in 'welcome home' for Vietnam vets

Wrangell's Johnson O'Malley Native dance group will participate in a virtual "welcome home" event for Vietnam War veterans Monday, Vietnam Veterans Day.

The event starts at 10 a.m., with the Wrangell dance performance set for 1:54 p.m., according to the event organizers' precise schedule.

The group will be one of over 20 participating in the welcome home, said Willard Jackson Sr., one of the event organizers. The welcome home is being put together by the Southeast Intertribal Collective. Lu Knapp and Virginia Oliver, with the JOM dancers, said it's a long overdue welcome home for Vietnam veterans.

The event will be streamed on the collective's Facebook page.

The veterans were often looked down upon when they returned home from the controversial war, Knapp and Oliver said.

"In my own opinion it's something the tribes should have done a long time ago," said Jackson, also a member of the Intertribal Collective.

Jackson, living in Ketchikan, is a veteran of the Vietnam War. He was drafted in 1966, at 21 years old, out of Dutch Harbor, after returning to Alaska from trade school in Denver. He was attached to the 82nd Airborne, he said, and was wounded by a booby trap in the war.

Returning home, Jackson said it became important for him to help care for veterans like himself. He became a tribal representative with the Department of Veterans Affairs, and helped orchestrate the dance groups for Monday's welcome home.

"As long as there's breath in my body I'll honor my brothers," he said.

While the welcome home will feature Native dance groups, Jackson said the event is meant to honor all Vietnam veterans, not just Natives. He encouraged anybody who knows a Vietnam veteran to let them know about the event and to tune in.