(Image source from: Daily Herald)

Beneath a huge shelter at Wheaton's Cantigny Park, in Illinois, a retired United States Army Staff Sgt. Raymond Harjo of Oklahoma conversed on Saturday with fellow American Indian veterans and their families.

They communicated regarding where they served, what they did while in uniform and what their exists have been like since leaving the military.

"It helps a lot when you talk," said Harjo, 55, a member of the Seminole tribe whose service included time in turbulent Central America during the 1980s with the First Battalion of the 160th Field Artillery Regiment. "It makes you feel good inside."

Veterans from across the U.S. came organized at Cantigny as part of the fourth National Gathering of American Indian Veterans.

The occasion paid superior honor to feminine veterans and those who have served in the military since the Vietnam War.

Vietnam War veteran Al Valdivi of Indiana was present at the event. A member of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division during the war, he was part of a small group of American Indians tasked with locating enemy forces and then calling in attacks from offshore warships and warplanes, much like the famed code talkers who served during World War II.

Valdivi said it upset that the code talkers were not officially recognized by the U.S. government up until decades after World War II and the Vietnam War ended. "We did our duty because this is our country," said Valdivi, a member of the Comanche tribe. "And we served proudly."

Sellers are sold hats, art, and jewelry, moreover, and representatives of groups together with the Veterans History Project and the National Museum of the American Indian were present to express individuals about their effort.

By Sowmya Sangam