This Veterans Day, the Lac du Flambeau community is honoring veterans with a flag ceremony and dinner. But it’s going a step further for one recently retired veteran.
Brigadier General Joni Mathews retired this year after a 36-year career with the military.
The Lac du Flambeau tribal member led a career of ‘firsts.’
She was the state’s first non-medical female colonel, the first woman to be the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s chief of staff for Army, and the first Native American woman in the entire Army National Guard to be a general officer.
The Lac du Flambeau tribe is honoring Mathews this Veterans Day by renaming its veterans building after her.
“It’s a big deal,” said Bill Wildcat, Lac du Flambeau’s veterans service officer, “a once-in-a-lifetime thing. When do we honor somebody who’s made their life career out of the military?”
Wildcat said renaming the building in Mathews’ honor is a show of thanks for her decades of service.
“We thought it would be a good thing to do for her and her family,” Wildcat said, “and thanking her for dedicated service and protecting our country.”
The veterans building renaming ceremony will take place Friday at noon in Lac du Flambeau.
A flag ceremony and veterans dinner will follow at the Lake of Torches Casino and Resort.
