Navajo Nation to host Memorial Day ceremony, distribute food to veterans

PHOENIX — The Navajo Nation will host a wreath-laying ceremony and food distribution on Memorial Day to honor and help military members.

Beginning at 8 a.m., the wreath ceremony will commemorate military service members who died or are missing in action.

It will be livestreamed on the Facebook page of Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer.

“On Memorial Day, we ask the Navajo people to join us in giving thanks to all Navajo veterans and we ask you to pray for those who lost their lives and those are still missing in action,” Nez said in a statement.

After the ceremony, the food distribution for veterans will be hosted at the fairgrounds in Window Rock. It is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

“The events are a small token of appreciation to show our veterans that we recognize and honor everything they and their families have sacrificed for the freedoms we have today. We invite all veterans to join us for the food distribution to help during the ongoing pandemic,” Lizer said in a statement.

There will not be person-to-person contact during the food distribution in efforts to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

The Office of the President and Vice President asks those who will be receiving food to remain in their vehicles with the windows rolled up.

The Navajo Nation has been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus. On May 18, CNN reported that the nation, which is in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, had the highest per-capita rate of COVID-19 infections in the country.

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