memorial next week. so, we're glad that you are here, we are excited to be talking about the memorial, and let's get right to it, with me is harvey pratt. harvey is a citizen of the tribes of oklahoma. he is a cheyenne peace chief, and has been a career lot enforcement official. he is a working artist, and he is a marine and vietnam veteran. so please great harvey pratt, thank you. >> [applause] >> thank you. so, harvey, what caused you to submit a proposal, a design for the memorial. >> well, our veterans director just kept after me. i had no -- i really had no hope that they would even come close, or to submit a design. he just kept after the inside, do it for the tribe, submit something. i thought about it and i said, let me dream on it. i said i have to dream. some of my best creativity is done early in the morning, in that dream period. so that is what i did. i went home, i dreamed about it and i got my big chief out, made some sketches, and he just came to me all of a sudden that morning. in order to touch the 576 federally recognized tribes, and how difficult that was, and to try to tie them all together. i thought, the way to do that is spiritually. and i said that native people wear the same, but we are different. we have the same concept, but we do it a little different. that is what i thought about, being a cheyenne chief, i'm involved in a lot of ceremonies, and ceremonies to me, they were important. i thought, that is the way to approach this. it is spiritually through ceremonies, rather than through a piece of art. i wanted to do something that you could walk into, that you can walk into and be involved in it, like if you went into a chiefs lodge, or a low lodge, a sweat lodge. that was my concept, when i saw things being around forever and i thought of the circle and, it just all, in just a short time, i had this idea and i thought, that is what i am supposed to do, i am supposed to do something about spirituality, and ceremony, rather than a statue. >> but you have done other public art projects before, right? >> yes, i am in the process of working on the sand creek massacre in denver, colorado. i have been an artist for a long time, and i was born, -- before i was harvey pratt, which means i was going to be a chief, they gave me that name, i was born in a little house, not in a hospital, and my mother's ants, they took care of her, and i was our cloak bear. when they saw that is a look, he wants to be a chief, so they gave me that name. and i felt like this was something special for me. i always admired my school teachers. school teachers to me, my first grade school teacher -- never forgot her name, mrs. jones. and then mrs. wyatt, another schoolteacher. and then mrs. hoodie. they always said, harvey, you have some skill. and i thought, everybody could draw as a child. i thought everybody could do something, and adults have to tell children that they are special, or they have a special talent -- oh, you seem pretty, you dance pretty, whatever it is. adults have to tell us that so they recognize this. to me, but always impacted me enough that i would tell my children those things, if they had a skill or a talent, i would try to reinforce that to them, and with other children that i would meet with the art, i went to an indian school, st. patrick's indian mission. and i was drying one day and -- >> that is in oklahoma, for those of you who don't know. >> yes. and a priest came by, he saw what i was doing inside, harvey, you have got talent. and he bought the pencils, paper, paint and i painted a picture. and i painted a painting, and i i did it of the crucifixion, and made everybody indians. i sold it -- i sold it in 1961, i sold it for 90 dollars in 1961. and the light bulb went off. >> [laughs] >> i bet it did! >> yes, the light bulb went off and i thought, oh my gosh, i can do this. i can sell some art. and from that point on, my heart -- i used to try to paint all kinds of indian art, southwest indians would say, that is all wrong. somebody would say, we don't do that. so i concentrated on planes indians, my tribes. >> so, yes. that brings this to mind for me. so, you are school, a school aged artist doing all right, it sounds like. so how did you end up a marine? >> well, i got out of school, i went to college and i did not have a car, so i was hitchhiking everywhere i went, i hitchhiked every day to school and back, hitchhiked to work, i was just tired of being broke, tired of being broke and i felt like it was a struggle. so, i always admired my uncle, my uncle was a marine in the second world war, and served don campaigns in iwo jima, he had been wounded, part of his foot was gone, parts of his face were gone, he had shrapnel all over his body, and he was our family hero. he was a gunnery sergeant, so he was a marine and i thought, i'm going to join the marine corps. i never told my mother, i just went out and did it, i came in one day into a sitting across the table for me, i said mom, i'm going to tell you something, i joined the marine corps yesterday. she looked at me, and her mouth flew opened and i called it the silent scream. i never expected that reaction from her until i got a little older, and i thought about it she was thinking about her brother who had been wounded numerous times, and missing in action. i think, she really lived that for me, for her brother. so, i got hurt in boot camp, i pinched a nerve in my arm from the sling, and i was paralyzed. i paralyzed my left arm, and i was devastated because, i'm left-handed, and i am an artist, you know? so i thought, i will never sell another 90 dollar painting again. so, they put me, they sent me back to the basement, and they put me in a dogcatchers truck, a wire cage in the back, they took my c-bag in there, i was sitting on my bag and it was raining, it was soaking wet, cars were passing me and i was so depressed, and i had my orders, i opened up that bag and they pulled those out and it said, my drill instructor said, harvey pratte will be a good marine. it saved me. it saved me, you know? it was telling me, they called you a lot of other things, but they never called you a marine, but he called me a marine and i said, you know what, i am going to make it. and from that point on, when i went to the rifle range, i qualified for the first time with an m-1. i got hurt, when i came back they gave me on m-14. so i qualified with an m-14. some, where i was one of the last guys to use on m-1. and one of the first guys to use on m-14. then, they may be a military police officer, division for the military police in okinawa, and when i was there, it lieutenant came by, he was looking for volunteers and he did not tell us what we are going to volunteer for, he said would you like it? so, i volunteered. i was not supposed to, but i did. i volunteered. and they sent me to guerrilla warfare school for two months, i trained with the recon unit, the third recon unit. and we still did not know where we were going. i thought it would be the philippines, really. i thought, that would send us to the philippines. they sent us to south vietnam, in 1963. and that's where i served seven months, with the recon unit, and we guarded a base, and the assets, and we picked up shot down pilots and helicopter pilots and spotter planes, so when they got shot down, we would go get them and bring them home. so, to me, that meant a great deal to indian culture, to do those kinds of things, to save people and you save your brothers, you know, that was one of the biggest things you could do, was to rescue one of your mates, one of your warriors that was wounded in battle, to rescue them. so i always thought about those things, about being the first, and send you to an important, that culture was important to me. i will tell you a story that my mother, my mother had three daughters and four sons. the three daughters are the oldest. they were complaining that they did not get treated equally with the brothers. they said, you treat my brothers better than you treat us, you give them everything. and my and laura said, those boys are going to die for you someday. they will have to protect you, protect the camp, the village, and they're going to have to die for you if they have to. that's why we do that to our men, because they will have to give up their lives to protect the rest of us. that is why we treat them special. and my sisters realized that, and we did not think about going to war, protecting or dying for anybody, but that is where the old people said. they said keep your shoes right there by the bed, you might have to get up and run. i did not understand that, why would i have to get up and run in the middle of the night? it was because they were attacked, i was raised by people that were born in the 18 seventies. you know? they had to witness those kinds of things, so they said keep your shoes right there, you might have to run in the middle of the night. collier spirit at the nighttime, they would go out, my and would call us, call our names, our indian names now and say, laura, i'm right here. she would say i know, but your little spirit is still out there, running around, and i'm going to bring it in. also, things like that, it took me a while to realize how valuable those things were to us, that my and laura would consider our little spirits and souls, rather than just the physical being, to keep your issues there, and to carry iraq in your pocket so when you are out there you can put that in your mouth and make your own water, lovely little things like that that made us who we were. i think -- a lot of life's histories and lessons made me a better person. the spirituality of who we are -- you get up in the morning and you tried to be a better person today than you were yesterday, and that is the way i tried to be, and as one of the cheyenne chiefs i would say, you have to make these sacrifices, you know, that is the way that i approach life, is to try to be a better person today than i was yesterday. >> so, how, these things you learn from being a cheyenne, from being a marine, how do they inform you or work in creating this memorial design? >> i think that i have always been somewhat creative, but the marine corps taught me to adapt, and to overcome and think about things, and not just accept them. and when something happens, if you can change it, change it and i think that helped me throughout my career, even in law enforcement, that when issues came up, i did not just accept them. i thought about them, i thought i could make it better, i would try to make it better. i think that the marine corps taught me that, and some of the history that i picked up from my family, which taught me to be a man, you know, some of those expectations, that we expect a view. you have to live up to those things, and they were important to me and my grandfather. we were extremely poor. and i never owned toys. we had clay, we made our toys. we made horses, people, cars, animals. and that is what we played with. something we made. i think that always helped me to be creative about what i did and how i entertained myself. >> so, turning back to the ceremonial elements of the memorial. could you describe those for everyone? how you think about it, how you wish for people to experience this memorial? >> yes, you know, i have the ceremonial memorial itself, with a pebble pathway, that comes off of the welcoming center, it goes along the north side of the wetlands, and it curves around, and we thought of that pathway as it goes to the memorial. that pathway is what some people call the red road, we call it the path of life. it is preparation for veterans, men and women, mothers, war mothers, uncles, relatives, that if you want to honor somebody, you want to pray for somebody, you prepare yourself as we walk this path, and that is what i wanted on this path, for you to become prepared as you come to the path, come to the memorial. that memorial is 50 feet across, and 14 feet high. it is a horizontal circle, i thought circles were important, the memorial is called the warriors circle. so, you have an outer circle. as you walk through the path of life, you prepare yourself to go in, to pray for your veteran, or pray for somebody you love, your family or someone that has passed on, you want to go there and pray, so you make preparation, and the circle has an outer circle, that you walk. and you can walk in counter-clockwise, or clockwise, whichever your tribe does, whichever you want to do. you have that opportunity to be who you are as a different person. and it has entryways that are north, south, east and west. the directions, so you could enter from any direction that you choose. and you can receive the power that you think your power comes from, which other direction that you come into. you could come in from that direction. and once you come in on that direction, from those openings, you come in to harmony, where you have prepared yourself to pray for someone, and you come within that inner circle that is harmony. and you are in harmony with the elements, with the water, the fire, the wind. and the earth you are in harmony with those things, those elements. those are all elements that native people use. they use sacred fires, sacred water. i bless myself every morning with water, i say my morning prayers and blessed myself with water. not only indians use water, a lot of people use water to purify themselves. so, the water is there, and on the inner circle, we call it the drum, it is really a symbolic drum. but it has water that comes out of the center, it flows across the top and down the sides. and that is the water that is their. so, you come into their. and in the middle is a 12 foot stainless steel circle. and at the base of that is a fire, so you can use that fire to burn your sweet grass, sage, things that you use. you can touch the water, use the fire. we call that the drum. and the water pulses out, and goes down the sides, and the design in the granite, it is rhythmic. it goes out like that, it goes out across the memorial, it goes off the grounds, it goes down the mall, and all the way to virginia, and the western parts and it calls the indian people to come to this sacred place. we are going to make it sacred. we will make it say goodbye your prayers, when you come, you will sit down on this granite, and you are going to play for your loved ones, and you will pray for your ancestors. and it is timeless, the circle is timeless. when i say it is timeless i say, we can think about our ancestors, and we can ask them to pray for us. we can think about our young men and women that are in the service right now, and for the president, and it is also for the future. it is for our grandchildren, and it is for their grandchildren, that this memorial is timeless, and it is not dated. it will be the same as it is now, as it was hundreds and thousands of years ago, and hundreds of thousands of years into the future. it will be the same. it will mean the same thing, elements, sacredness, cardinal points. the cardinal points are, we use the sacred colors, southeast is white, that is when i say that every morning when you get up, you could pray, look at the sun coming up and say, i'm going to be a better person today than i was yesterday. so, it is a new beginning, and the southwest is red, and that is the creator of storms and things coming out of the southwest, the creator shows you his power, and that way, we remember him as our father, god, and the northwest is the color yellow, and that is mother earth, god mother earth. and she gives us everything. the water, the air, animals and plants. it gives us dominion over those things, we have to protect those things, that is what we pray about. northwest is the color black, that is our ancestors. we always invite our ancestors before ceremonies, we feed our ancestors, we give them food, and some tobacco, and ask them to come watch to make sure we are doing the ceremonies the way that we should, the way we are supposed to do them, we don't change them, we try to maintain the sacredness of those old ceremonies. you know, god gave people a written language, and indian, ceremonies. that is what we try to protect, our ceremonies. so, those things to me were extremely important, and we consider all of those things. and the lenses have eagle feathers on them, and the battle ribbon that hangs down the side, the eagle feathers are attached to it, they are part of a certain, these sacred colors. so, you see the sacred. colors and of prayer cloths, you could tie them on to the lances, and wherever you want to pray, when you say a prayer for one of your loved ones, who is overseas, in the military or has been getting ready to go, or has come back and you make a prayer for them, you tie that prayer cloth in there, and the wind blows, and that prayer goes out to that person. i love that. we have got prayer cloths all over my property, my wife gina, we tied them. when i think about, that i tear something up and i say a prayer, and severances pray for me, harvey, pray for me. so, i do. a prayer will go out. so prayer cloths, i try to touch all of those things spiritually, about us, about indian people. i think we are a spiritual people, and i think about this land, a lot of people ask me a lot of times, why do indians fight for this country, when you are treated so poorly? there are a lot of reasons. we fight for the man to the left of, you and the right of you, and you fight for your country, and before human beings set foot on this north american continent, it was just animals, it was a garden of eaton. who did god give it to? he gave it to the indians. he gave this land to the indians. so i say look, we are fighting for this land, it is our land, it is always been our land, god gave it to us, the creator gave it to. us so we thought fought for this land. our native blood is all over this land, soaked into this earth, earth is precious to us. and now, we become universal, and i say that our blood is soaked all over this confident, all over this world. native blood is everywhere, in this land. so it is precious to us. that is why we respect it, and do the right thing and care for it. -- >> so, one of the things we think about a lot, thinking about after the memorial opens, it is sort of protocols around how people use the memorial. we know that native people will know the proper way to offer, make an offering of sage, sweet grass or cedar. but how do you think we ought to advise our non native guests to experience the memorial? >> you know, i think, i think most people are very aware of the religions and the freedom to have a religion the way you want. you see in our culture, we have all kinds of different religions. so i think, i think that people will see these people making those ceremonies, doing a ceremony. you will see it and they will wonder, i have thought about that, i can think maybe you could end it, it doesn't have to tell you everything, but just say, he is blessing his relatives, he is blessing his son or his daughter, going into service, he is asking the creator to protect, and that's what he did. you don't have to tell him why, you know the medicine that you have? i have always carried medicine, my whole life. i have some right now in my wallet, some medicine, to help me, protect me. you know, if you think about those kind of things, and people are respectful, i think that is what we would want to have at this memorial, respect. we would want to have respect from the different cultures. i was reading some statistics six that's a 40% of the american population, the indians were a dying race that no longer existed. really, 40% of people think that indian people ceased to exist, when we turned into the 20th century. and that shocked me. i also year that a lot of people say that they respect indian people, and that is what happened. people see us doing something, and they will be respectful. either people say, hey could you smoke us off as well? i was in an investigation one-time, and some of these investigators saw me, and i was walking around with cedar, and when i picked cedar, i take some off of every direction. north, south, east and west. and i prayed, and i went to the fire, and these investigators say harvey, what are you doing? i said no, you are doing something, we see you doing something. i said, well i'm just going to smoke myself off, i need to approach this with a good heart, and do the right thing. sources, i'm going to cleanse myself. and they said, could we -- could you do that for us as well? could you do that for us as well? i was surprised that these men, that really did not know, but they wanted that same thing. and i think about that a lot. people, they see you doing something special, they want some of that to. they want that, when you pray, when you give something, i learned that and they see it a lot in these ceremonies. people say, would you smoke off my brother over here? he wants some of that. he wants some of that, he sees how it makes you feel, how it makes you people feel about a ceremony. i would love to have people watch and be respectful, you know. and then maybe say, could you do that for me? i think that is what is really important, that you do those things for people, regardless of who they are. >> is there anything people should not do in the memorial? many things, i know. >> there are a lot of things. when we do ceremonies, we will not let you carry water at a sundance. you can't run, shout, you can't be disrespectful. like, even at the tomb of the unknown soldier, they will chastise you if you get loud. you will be disrespectful. i think to me, that will be disrespectful to us if someone went in there and was doing something that was disrespectful. i would hate to see that. >> so would i. >> i would hate to see that. >> i think that is as good as a characterization as you can, make sure respect at all times when you are there. for the audience, when we were out talking with veterans across the country, about what the memorial should be about, what it would be like, we were, i was a bit surprised, because we first thought we would put it out here on our independence avenue side, where we have some open space. and it will be very visible, all these people driving by, walking by on independence avenue would see this, and hopefully wonder and come to see what it was. so to my surprise, very consistently, the veterans are telling us that, you know, it is too noisy out there, too many cars and people. put it on the other side, where there can be some privacy. and for the purposes that you were describing, they will use it as a ceremonial space. >> yes. >> and so, harvey's design really grasped that in a way that frankly, most of the other designs did not. the proposed designs. you know, when we were working on, we had to conduct a design competition. and when we were working on saying, these are the criteria, these are the things that we want the designs to achieve. it occurred to us even then that native people are going to understand these differently. the native artists and designers, they will understand these differently than the non native. and nevertheless, when we were evaluating the proposals, we had 120 from all over the world, from most of the states in the united states. we were still, and we do not know, who had submitted any given design, the identity of each proposed designer was unknown to the jury. so we were very concerned, because for example, the martin luther king memorial was designed by a chinese designer. and we fought, you know, that would not be very good for the native american memorial, to be designed by, not only someone not from the united states, but someone who had not had that experience. on the other hand, we had some degree of confidence that native designers were going to understand it in the way that we wanted it to be understood. i think that your design really was exactly the sort of thing that we anticipated, as a native designer, you would see it, you would understand it. and of course, your experience as a marine would further inform that. it was just what we were looking for. >> somewhere during that period, i came to me and i thought, i understand. i know what i am talking, about i have been involved with ceremonies and things like that. so i understand, i think i understand the way that native people are, even though we are different, i understood those things, that is what i try to incorporate into my designs, those elements that i thought we would all understand. when, we might not all do them, but we would all understand them. for example, the warriors 12 foot circle, the stainless steel circle. i call it the hole in the sky, where the creator lives. he lives up there in that hole in the sky. so when you make a prayer, offering or sacrifice, it goes up there. and the creator hears it and sends it back. a blessing to you. that is how i interpret that when i look at this, the air in the sky, and the creator. you ask him, you beg him for something pitiful, and he will have mercy on you. he will give you a blessing, it comes back to you through that hole in the sky. so to me, there are a lot of symbolic things that i have learned throughout my life, that i try to incorporate and think about. i said, if i think about, it they will think about it, they will see that same thing, they will have that recognition. that is where i would hope for, but you could recognize the directions, the cardinal points and the elements, the colors, the pathways. just all of the little things that would mean something to native people, i was not worried about trying to educate non natives, that will come. that will come with this memorial, we will educate non native people about who we are, and why we do certain things, that we are a spiritual people. you know, that we are, concerned about this earth and how we live we try to live that way, and you recognize, it when you get there, hopefully people will see that example, and follow it. >> yes, so one of the challenges is that we've already described it means that even though we have some commonalities, neither people are very different one for another, and there are 570 recognized indian tribes, several hundred more that are recognized by the state governments, a number that say who trying, not recognized by either. how tempting was it, when one of the things you might do is try to find iconography, or different parables from a variety of different cultures, and trying to put them altogether one thing we tended? were you tempted? >> you know i thought about that, what you heard me is when i tried to paint other cultural ceremonies. i was doing it wrong and they would say we don't do that. so that to me, that came to me and said i can't. i can try to do something that is southwest tribe did or great lakes. someone that did things different. i cannot add those things, those cultural things because i will do it wrong. that's how my thought of the spirituality, and the elements. we all use those things. so that so i did, i initially thought about doing the culture, because i do sculpt. i'll do a sculpture and then i thought well if i do that, that does not represent those people. that doesn't represent those people. that's why i chose to have, a destination. a place that people can go to. it has a purpose. it's not a short cut, it's not a pathway. you have to go there in mind, to honor veterans. you have to go there to do that. then you go in and go out. it's not a path that people can walk through and go into something else. you have to go to our memorial specifically. it's not a shortcut. it's where you go to make a commitment, as a veteran or a woman, or grandson. he was specifically specifically to pray for someone, who has the creator something. we did that so it becomes a place of strength and power, with three reverence, sacredness. when someone goes in there, they will fill all those prayers, feel all those things. that's what i want. i want people to say, this is the best place. gina and i have a place on our property, that we found and it's a place that we go to. it's a place that i go smoke my pipe, prayer cloths there, that's a special place. there's a lot of those in this earth. that's what i want this to be a special place that people can go to, and be energized. to be free of any guilt they had, to feel better about themselves, to feel if they go there to pray for someone it mean something. we have all these other prayers that have already been in there, it's going to have strengthened power and healing. that's what i wish for. that's what i wish it will help us with, i wish it to help our veterans. >> what are native american veterans facing today? >> i, i became involved with a veterans organization and i go to the va hospital, and i see veterans and i see a lot of things. i see people that are homeless, people that are angry, i am talking about all kinds of people, that are veterans. not just indians. i think that indian veterans have been forgotten about. not forgotten about by their people, or by their tribes and families, but forgotten by this country. by the government sometimes. when they make it hard. i know i have tried to get to be a benefits, and some things like that. they make it difficult for you. i say okay, i'm not the one. when i came back from vietnam, my hearing was damaged. and i went to the medical doctors there and i said i cannot hear very well. and he said, he said you are nothing but a--. i said okay. i don't want to be that i turn around and walked off and never said anything again. even though i was damaged. i see that and if that happens in the people, i say okay. that's done i'm done. they don't fight as hard as some people do. to hear what they want. i'll take care of myself. that's part of the problem that we have to train veterans. say hey we are here to help. you were here to help you because i've been through it and i know it, i'll help you go through that path so this is the way you do this to achieve a bit of it, if something from you're hearing, your agent orange. those things. i will help you do it. that's what we need to do. we need to help those guys that have given up. that's why i got involved with our veterans organization. the american legion. you know here's a veteran, but he kind of hangs back to the side, you go over and help them. i can help you do this. they did that to my brother. he never applied for nothing, he went into one of the meetings, kind of like what we have the to the veteran groups, he was just walking by and they call them in. they said we can help you do this. and he draws disability. he was homeless. now he has a little place and draws stability. he has pride in what he has done. but he gave up. i think that's what happens to a lot of us indian people. we need people that are willing to step up and help them. show them there is a way. >> one of the things i talk about a lot, sometimes even after all this time i struggle to find the words for, is about how native that are received in their own communities, and how their status and prestige in their communities, and i don't see that a similar sort of thing going on in non indian communities. >> in whose experience? >> their people. >> you know i when i was in vietnam i fully expected to die over there. and i was afraid my bones would stay there. they will not find my body. i don't want that, i want to come home. i want my bones and my body to come home, that was so important to me that they didn't leave me over there somewhere, and when i came home my family had a big ceremony they had some medicine men smoke me off and do something for me. my family gave away and they fit everybody. to me that i felt so good about what my tribe and indian people were doing for us. i've seen it my whole life, and i really experienced i felt like i belong. a long time ago, a lot of the tribes when their man went out before they could come back into camp they made him stay out. they made him stay out on the perimeter, they would have at it like wolves. they sit, the medicine men out there to cleanse them and said cleanse you because you've been fighting and doing things and we don't want you to come into the camp, around their women and children an act that way being angry and volatile but we want to cleanse you and clean up and make your human being again before you come in here. be among human beings and i want to think about that up with ptsd was a long time ago up and they knew it and they had seen people put and medicine doesn't work for anybody and it's here and here and some guys insist that they're angry about it and they want to try that and up will visit with a man that they were interviewing when they went to vietnam and killed people. he still carrying that around in his heart he killed people and something should have been done for him and he had been around for 40 years. that is terrible, and we need people to help cure those kinds of men that do things and help them get past that. it's a journey. >> it is. i read a book a few years ago and i hope i don't mangle the authors name but he wrote a book called tribes and was talking about pts and why so many veterans struggle with pts. he concluded it was because in most places and for most veterans they don't get that reception back and are not greeted by their community and are not helped to understand what's happening to them as they say it is more the spiritual cleansing. in a way, as well most veterans don't get to tell their story and there's no safe place for them to talk about what they've experienced and i think that the tribes had learned about what ptsd was before and practices that helped alleviate it and maybe we can show others how to do that. speaking of that, i'm sure you would agree that not just native veterans are welcome in this memorial. >> i do agree with that. it is for everybody. you need to go there and heal and pray and participate. it should be for everybody. if you want to learn and understand our ways, you should common participate and be part of it. i think in a lot of ways even native veterans are closer to their fellow veterans than to even some of their family or people in their tribe and that that experience is so profound. >> i have a good friend that we went to boot camp together and went to vietnam together and he was a pratte pratte and we had talked two or three times a week on the phone through text and i was as close to him as to anybody else. i was close to him because we experienced that kind of thing together and he was a real tactical guy and he could tell you the sound of the weapon and the explosions and it was just that kind of technical guy and when he was like that i just flew by the seat of my pants and i went this way and we matched because we were from opposite ends and we were really good teams just him and i and we were in these upper one time and we were in the air field and a week later we are all standing there and we go out on a special mission and we want volunteers. (laughs) the volunteers are pratte and pratte and he was just elated. i wasn't sure about it. that's what we always heard about you marines. all right, harvey, thanks so much. thanks for being here this afternoon, and for all of the things you have done, all of the many ways that you have served. and thank you for your creation, we are honored to be able to work with you, to bring it in, we could not have done this without you, and in so many ways, our memorial has the perfect design and perfect designer. thanks. >> the team that came together, our design team, architects, your staff, it has just been phenomenal, the way that things have come together. it has been a great experience for myself, and my family, and the tribal people, and the people that have been on fund-raisers, people are just excited about it. they are raising money to come next year. they are selling fry bread, all kinds of things, trying to raise some money so they can come here. >> we are looking forward to that, it will be a great day. veterans day, 2020. we will be dedicating this memorial, we expect and are working to make sure that there will be thousands of native american veterans here at the national mall next veterans day. so thank you all for being here this afternoon. thank you all who have watched online. we have got some more work to do, but it is a labor of love now. and we look forward to completing the project. so thanks again. take care. >> thank you very much. >> [applause] [applause] if you like american history tv, keep up with us during the week on facebook, twitter and youtube. learn about this day in history, and see preview clips of upcoming programs. follow us at c-span history. we are joined in the smithsonian's michel delaney. tell u

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