U.S. Army Veteran Michael Leon completed his duty on a recent March morning in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. The duty, unforeseen only months ago,  overwhelmed Leon with emotion once it was completed.

Leon works for the Phoenix Veterans Affairs and was tasked to deliver 22 tribal flags from the VA to the SRPMIC on March 18. The alternative was placing the flags away in an anonymous warehouse somewhere in the Phoenix Valley for who knows how long.

“These flags, to keep them in a storage locked far away, that’s like putting chains on them,” he said, once the flags were carefully placed in their temporary new home in the Community.

The tribal flags represent the federally recognized tribes living in Arizona, including SRPMIC. The flags are over 20 years old and were a mainstay inside of the downtown Carl T. Hayden Veterans’ Administration Medical Center, not far from Steele Indian School Park. That changed in March following the executive orders implemented by the Trump administration in his first few weeks in office. This is when SRPMIC stepped in and stepped up.

“But then, we got in contact with Troy [Truax Jr.],” said Shawdin Tracy, Facility Rural Health coordinator for the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs in Phoenix. After communicating with each other with not much time on their side, Tracy and Truax, who works for SRPMIC Veterans Services, created plans for the SRPMIC to become a temporary sanctuary for the flags.

During the early morning of March 18, all 22 flags were successfully transported from the VA facility to the third-floor conference room in SRPMIC Two Waters A-Building. President Martin Harvier, Vice-President Ricardo Leonard, SRPMIC Veterans Services Department staff, Community Manager Bryan Meyers and Rueben Malin, new director of Administration, were on-hand and assisted with the transport.

Once the flags were carefully moved to the third floor, Leon became emotional and shared a few words about the importance of continuing to show respect to the flags.

He shared his deep appreciation to the SRPMIC for agreeing to house and showcase the flags, just as they were inside of the VA office.

Following the transport, Leonard performed a feather blessing to all flags.

It’s not yet known how long the flags will remain at Two Waters.

On March 20, Leonard issued statement on the matter, calling on the Veterans Affairs secretary to restore the display.

“As the Vice President of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, a Veteran of the U.S. Army Infantry, and a 32-year member of the Arizona Bushmasters-Post #114 American Legion, I was surprised and appalled when the staff of the Phoenix Veterans Affairs hospital dropped off all twenty-two Arizona Tribal Nations Flags at our office, explaining that they could no longer be displayed there,” Leonard said in a statement.

“Not only is this nonsensical, but it dishonors all Native American veterans and their families who have given so much to protect this country,” he continued.

“It would be a tragedy if the VA chooses not to repost the flags. Please urge the VA Secretary to allow tribal flags to be displayed in VA facilities.”

O’odham Action News will continue to monitor this story.