Navy SEAL returns to Southeast Alaska after 28 years

Nathan Mitchell, a retired Navy SEAL Command Master Chief, returned to Southeast Alaska on Saturday after 28 years of active duty service, completing the canoe journey to Celebration 2026 with his son.

Mitchell deployed 17 times during his career. He lived in Virginia and California for nearly three decades but said home was always Southeast Alaska.

Charles Edwardson from Ketchikan acknowledged Mitchell at Celebration, calling him his nephew. Edwardson noted that Alaska Natives and American Indians serve in the United States military at the highest per capita rate of any demographic in the country, often serving five times the national average. "Alaska Natives have a rich history of military participation stemming from their tribal warrior traditions," Edwardson said. "And the specific need to defend their homelands. Today, it's our family's great honor and my great honor to acknowledge my nephew Nathan Mitchell."

Mitchell and his son completed the canoe journey before the event, one of several canoe arrivals that opened Celebration 2026 earlier this week. "My son and I just completed the journey, the canoe journey here, and I can't tell you how special that was," Mitchell said. "The warm welcome that we received and then continue on into celebration has just been super special for us to be welcomed back here again amongst family. And it's just something that I needed badly, being gone for so long. I missed this. I really did."

Mitchell said he was not used to the spotlight, having lived his life in what he called the shadows as part of the "silent professionals." But he described the duty to protect the land as something that goes back millennia. "I had a duty and responsibility to this nation, to protect this land," he said. "And I think it's something that goes back a millennia, right? Us, you know, combat arms, not in a modern sense, but, you know, an ancient, we have that duty to protect these lands, what we have. It's very special. I've been all over the world, but there's nothing like Southeast Alaska."

Mitchell also acknowledged other veterans at the event, asking them to stand. He addressed post-traumatic stress disorder among veterans. "A lot of guys come home, but they'll still carry it with them," he said. "And it's in there. It's something you can never get rid of totally. So they carry it. And they signed up knowing that they're going to have to carry that for the rest of their lives. But so if you are hurting on the inside, there's people out there, there's fellow veterans, please just come up and talk."

The Southeast Alaska Native Veterans Group was welcomed to the stage at Celebration 2026. The group is comprised of veterans from all Southeast Alaska communities. Its mission is to support fellow veterans while promoting sobriety and fighting substance abuse and suicide. Memorial donations honoring deceased veterans were read during the event.