I had the great honor to welcome several Alaska Native combat Veterans to the Capitol on Friday. Since their return home from Vietnam, George Bennett, former Representative Bill Thomas, Willard Jackson, and Darrell Brown have been waiting for land to be opened up in their ancestral areas of Southeast Alaska.
Last Monday, when the Department of Interior announced they were finally releasing 27 million acres for selection after decades of delay, we and the native Vietnam veteran community were hopeful. But once again, none of this land is in their traditional areas of Southeast. It is clear that allowing these veterans to select useable, accessible, and ancestral land is not important to the Federal Government.
As a combat wounded veteran myself, I know firsthand some of what these warriors sacrificed for our country—all the more true for those who served in Vietnam. We owe these veterans the land that was promised to them and so much more. #akleg
I had the special privilege of presenting these warriors with Alaska State flags flown over the Capitol in honor of their service and selfless sacrifices in combat.
Original source can be found here.
