Evangeline Ruth Lewis and Heather David stood in the Monday heat, swatting away the occasional mosquito and looking at George Lewis’ grave. 

In a wood-fenced plot in the Jones Point Cemetery, George Lewis’ was one of dozens of graves decorated with new American flags, freshly decorated by volunteers and family members before the annual Memorial Day ceremony. 

When asked about the ceremony and her connections to the Chilkat Valley cemetery, Evangeline Lewis first walked to her late husband Benson Lewis Davis’ grave. Then her son, Scott Lorne Davis, and finally her father,  George Lewis.

George Lewis, born in Angoon, was a Lingít codetalker during World War II, one of two buried in the Jones Point cemetery.  

The Lewis family connection to the military is part of the heritage of military service Vietnam Veteran and Lynn Canal American Legion post commander Terry Pardee told the crowd to keep in mind on Monday. 

“All these flags here, so many of the people who lived here through the last 100 years or so, and were buried here, they served in the  Spanish American War, WWI, WWII, Korea and in Vietnam,” Pardee said. “They hold a special place in my heart.”

Pardee also specifically acknowledged the Chilkat Valley’s Alaska Native veterans both in Haines and during a later ceremony in Klukwan. Native Americans serve in the armed forces at a higher rate than any other demographic in the United States, according to the Military Times.

“It’s irony, the way they were treated for so long, [that] they’re the first ones to raise their hands to serve,” he said.