Mustang Alum and Army National Guardsman Shared Intertribal Songs With Soldiers in Saddam Hussain’s Palace and With Students at WNMU
A Western New Mexico University alum, Lt. Bill “Cody” Ayon, recently donated to the Smithsonian a drum he played during a Native American Appreciation celebration at Al Faw Palace in Iraq and for events held by WNMU Native American Club on campus.
“That drum was the one I took to combat then brought home and used at school while I finished my degree,” he said.
Now, it belongs to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.
Born in Deming and raised in Silver City, Lt. Ayon’s mom is Mexican and his dad is Cheyenne. The family drum he enjoyed while deployed and in school is a large pow wow drum that he learned to play as a child when his parents taught him the language and customs of his relatives. Lt. Ayon joined a Shiprock-based pow wow drumming group called Talking Spirit, and his passion for singing and playing grew during his deployment and his time in the Native American Club at WNMU.
While doing a tour in Iraq with the Army National Guard, Lt. Ayon played and sang intertribal songs with his fellow Native American soldiers. He was invited to play his drum and speak about the significance of being a Native American in the military as part of the Native American Appreciation event at Saddam Hussain’s palace in 2007.
“The drum was also used in a Cheyenne Soldier Dance for Lt. Ayon when he returned from his deployment in 2010,” said the museum’s registrar, Rachel Shabica.
After returning home to complete a bachelor’s in criminal justice, Lt. Ayon taught the songs he learned as a child and shared with his military comrades in Iraq to WNMU students from tribes around the country.
“I hope the significance of the Native American Club at WNMU is part of the story of that drum,” said Lt. Ayon, whose own story is chronicled in “America’s First Warriors: Native Americans and Iraq” by Osage photographer Steven Clevenger.
WNMU celebrates Native American Heritage Month this November. For a schedule of events, visit wnmu.edu/events.