July 4 in Barrow: Two who fought in Iraq and expect to fight in Afghanistan led the parade
Sunday, July 5, 2009 at 10:19PM ;)
Alaska Army National Guard soldiers Steven Kaleak Jr and Owen Nowpakahok led the parade. Both men served together with the Guard in Iraq, both men reenlisted and both expect to be deployed to Afghanistan in one year. "I love my job," Kaleak said of his reenlistment. Kaleak is Iñupiat of Barrow and Nowpakahok is St. Lawrence Island Yup'ik, and comes from the village of Gambell, 40 miles from Russia.
And truly, back in his hometown, he can walk out the door to the house and see Russia.
;)
Kaleak and Nowpakahok were follwed by veterans of Barrow, many of whom experienced combat in Vietnam and elsewhere. Alaska Natives and American Indians have the highest rate of military service of anyone in the country.
The parade works its way past the Chukchi Sea of the Arctic Ocean.
;)
There were many games and races and I'm afraid eggs got broken.
With some encouragment from her Aaka, four-year old Jacklyn Sceeles dashed to third place.
;)
And Amaya Williams won first in the same category.
;)
All contestants over the age of 60 won first place. Knowing that they were going to get in the money did not stop them from competing full-force.
;)
Spectators, including the very famous and athletic Spiderman, watch the Elders compete in the gunny sack race. Well, three of them watch. The fourth admires his own new face in the driver's side rearview mirror.
Many other things happened, including a baby contest, Miss Teen Top of the World and an Eskimo dance to close out the day, but I have not had time to do anything but barely touch the photos that I took.
I may still try to add in some of this material. If I succeed, I will not pile it on top of this in the usual blog fashion, but will run it below. This because I want to keep the American Flag at the top of any Fourth of July material that I post. So if you come back looking for babies, pageant contestants and Eskimo dancing, be sure to scroll all the way down past this entry that you have already read.
Reader Comments (3)
I think you may be miss informed. Kaleak and Nowpakahok are Alaska Army National Guard Soldiers. Not to be confused with active duty U.S. Army Soldiers. If they were active duty they would be stationed on one of the major Army bases throughout the world. I have worked with both men in the past in the Guard and unless they recently joined the Active duty they are Guardsmen. Their service is just as important as the active component but they have the benefit of staying in their home towns to serve not only the country but the state as well. I don’t intend to diminish there service in anyway by pointing this out. On the contrary I hope to enlighten those who may not know the important roll that our Alaska Army National Guard men and women play in our home towns as well as globally. God Bless All of Them
Thank you for the correction, AkSoldiergirl. I believe you are correct and not because I was misinformed, but because I misremembered information from a few years back, shortly before Steven was deployed to Iraq.
I will make the correction.
Man! What was the temperature there? I thought it was cool here in WV an OH for the 4th. I had on a sweatshirt to watch the fireworks, but no parka. :-)
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