Andre Cramblit’s mother served in the U.S. Marines. His father served in the U.S. Navy.

Cramblit, a Karuk tribal member and Northern California Indian Development Council operations director, said that military service, obviously, has hit him close to home, as it has fellow Native Americans.

That’s why he thought it was important to recommend that NCIDC choose “A Salute To All Veterans” as its theme for the 25th annual Northwest Intertribal Gathering and Elders Dinner, which will be held today, beginning at 10 a.m. at Eureka’s Redwood Acres Fairgrounds.

Indian arts and crafts, fry bread and tacos, an elders’ honoring ceremony and traditional elders’ dinner will be part of the event, as well as tribal dance and song demonstrations. Those will be brush dancers, feather dancers, Aztec dancers, bird singers/dancers and a hoop dancer. The final demonstration is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

A salmon and turkey dinner will be available from noon-4 p.m., or as long as supplies last.

Admission for 55 and older is free. General admission is $6, with $3 for children 12 and younger. For additional information, phone 707-445-8451.

Today, all veterans will receive a special ribbon, as well as be recipients of “veterans honoring songs” by the ensemble Red Hawk.

“Ironically,” Cramblit said, “Indian people have had the highest rate of voluntary participation in the military ever.”

“Indian people volunteered to fight in World War I, even though we weren’t granted citizenship until 1924,” Cramblit said.

Additionally, he said, “90 percent of eligible American Indian males volunteered to serve in World War II.”

And Native American participation continues to this day in the Iraq War.

“(We) still have the highest per capita representation of any group in the military,” he said.

Cramblit said that he thinks that one of the reasons for the high numbers of enlistees is that “most tribes are very role-oriented, and in some tribes there’s that warrior role.”

“We’re defending our home, our people, our way of life,” he said.

Cramblit said that his mother made a decision to raise her family in Oregon, but every summer he went to visit his great-aunt and great-uncle, who lived past Somes Bar on the Salmon River.

He remembers participating in numerous traditional Karuk tribal ceremonies and dances. He was able to retain a sense of his culture and was on the receiving end of stories that his great-aunt and great-uncle had collected from their elders.

“(I) grew up meeting people and hearing people three or four generations before me,” Cramblit said.

He is the chairman of the Karuk Language Restoration Committee, and was quick to boast that they now have about 15 fluent tribal members, 14 of them older than 65 and one is 2 1/2 years old.

The toddler, who lives in Orleans, is Cramblit’s great-nephew. He is being raised to use Karuk as his primary language. That is the first time that’s happened in several generations, he said.

Today’s gathering will not only introduce tribal members and the general public to Karuk traditions, but it will showcase approximately 100 tribes, Cramblit said.

It is American Indian Heritage Month, as well.

“This is an opportunity to view dances and hear songs from other tribes and other communities,” he said.

Konni Albers, a Karuk, is NCIDC executive assistant and also coordinated the dances for this year’s event. She said that she looks forward to the variety of dances and people who will be in attendance.

Albers was not raised in her own tradition. She was brought into it about a decade ago.

“Now two of my children dance,” she said.

She said she now feels “more complete” having been introduced to her culture.

Albers said the highlights of today’s gathering will be the dance demonstrations, but also “to see these people be really happy and to honor them.”

Last year, almost 3,000 people attended the event and about 1,200 meals were served, 700 of them as gifts to elders.

All elders, native and nonnative, will be honored today, Cramblit said.