"He'll be having 5,000 spirits with him," said Kerry Metoxen, director of the Oneida Tribe of Wisconsin's veterans services office. "All of our prior veterans who passed on will be with him."

As the inaugural parade nears, tribal representatives in five states -- North Dakota, Montana, Wisconsin, Alaska and Idaho -- are preparing for the coming presidential inauguration. Of the 560 federally recognized tribes in the country, 11 Native nations have been invited to participate in the parade for President-elect Barack Obama.

The tribes had a Friday deadline of submitting all names of parade participants. About half of the Native parade marchers will include veterans. The Oneida will send five veterans.

And North Dakota tribes plan to send 16 veterans, including representatives from the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, as well as the Spirit Lake, Sisseton-Wahpeton, Standing Rock and Turtle Mountain tribes.

"I've been working with them frantically all week," said Wes Long Feather, a chief executive from the United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck. "We're the only entry from North Dakota. It's a historic event. There are so many people who want to be a part of it. We have to give thanks to our North Dakota delegation who worked so hard to get us into the parade and thought so much of our intertribal organization to ask us to represent the state."

The college was asked to participate and assemble the North Dakota tribes. College president David Gipp was the only Native speaker to address delegates at the Democratic National Convention.

Other tribes include the Crow Nation of Montana, the Nez Perce, Coeur d'Alene and Kootenai in Idaho and an Alaskan Native dance group. At final count, 1,382 groups and organizations filled out an application to march in the parade. So far, about 90 groups have been selected.

"It will be humbling to be a participant. It's something you'll never forget," said Paulette Jordan, who is organizing the Idaho contingent, a combination of state and tribal leaders. It will be good "to get out the voice of Indian Country. We're always looked over, and we're somewhat invisible. This is our way of being visible and putting our stamp and signature as part of the Obama administration and everything he's doing. We're showing our support."

The groups will parade down Pennsylvania Avenue after the Jan. 20 swearing-in ceremony for Obama.

Contact Jodi Rave at 800-366-7186, jodi.rave@lee.net or buffalopost.net