Public invited to Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center Rededication Ceremony

The name change was officially signed into Public Law 109-231 by President George W. Bush on June 15, 2006.

The public is invited to a historic event for the VA Medical Center in Muskogee on Nov. 30, 2006.  On that day, the medical center will celebrate its renaming as the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center.  The name change was officially signed into Public Law 109-231 by President George W. Bush on June 15, 2006.

Montgomery, who was of Cherokee descent, was born near Long, Oklahoma on July 23, 1917.  He attended public and Indian schools including what was then Bacone Junior College, founded to educate Native Americans. As a student there, he enlisted in Company I, 180th Infantry of the 45th Division of the Oklahoma National Guard.

President Franklin Roosevelt awarded Montgomery the Medal of Honor for his actions in World War II near Padiglione, Italy on February 22, 1944, which resulted in 11 enemy dead and the capture of 32 prisoners.  He was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart with Cluster, and many others for his bravery.  Montgomery is one of five Native Americans to be awarded the Medal of Honor.  Of special note, the medical center in Muskogee will be the first VA hospital to be named after a Native American.

After he was discharged from the U.S. Army in March 1953, Montgomery returned to work at the VA Regional Office in Muskogee until he retired in 1972.  After that, he volunteered at the VA Medical Center driving a shuttle transporting patients from the parking lot to the hospital.  Montgomery died June 11, 2002 at the age of 84.

Join us on this special day as we pay tribute to one of our nation’s heroes.  The ceremony will be held at the Muskogee Civic Center Arena at 1:30 p.m. 

Guest speakers include Congressman Dan Boren, Senator Tom Coburn and Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chad Smith.