">
Stories and History of Native American Veterans
Stories and History of Native American Veterans
A Long Tradition Of Participation
American Indians have participated with distinction in United States military actions for more than 200 years. Their courage, determination, and fighting spirit were recognized by American military leaders as early as the 18th century.
I think they [Indians] can be made of excellent use, as scouts and light troops. --Gen. George Washington, 1778
Many tribes were involved in the War of 1812, and Indians fought for both sides as auxiliary troops in the Civil War. Scouting the enemy was recognized as a particular skill of the Native American soldier. In 1866, the U.S. Army established its Indian Scouts to exploit this aptitude. The Scouts were active in the American West in the late 1800s and early 1900s, accompanying Gen. John J. Pershing's expedition to Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa in 1916. They were deactivated in 1947 when their last member retired from the Army in ceremonies at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona. Native Americans from Indian Territory were also recruited by Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders and saw action in Cuba in the Spanish-American War in 1898. As the military entered the 20th century, American Indians had already made a substantial contribution through military service and were on the brink of playing an even larger role.
Contributions In Combat
It is estimated that more than 12,000 American Indians served in the United States military in World War I. Approximately 600 Oklahoma Indians, mostly Chotaw and Cherokee, were assigned to the 142nd Infantry of the 36th Texas-Oklahoma National Guard Division. The 142nd saw action in France and its soldiers were widely recognized for their contributions in battle. Four men from this unit were awarded the Croix de Guerre, while others received the Church War Cross for gallantry.
The outbreak of World War II brought American Indians warriors back to the battlefield in defense of their homeland. Although now eligible for the draft by virtue of the Snyder Act, which gave citizenship to American Indians in 1924, conscription alone does not account for the disproportionate number of Indians who joined the armed services. More than 44,000 American Indians, out of a total Native American population of less than 350,000, served with distinction between 1941 and 1945 in both European and Pacific theaters of war. Native American men and women on the home front also showed an intense desire to serve their country, and were an integral part of the war effort. More than 40,000 Indian people left their reservations to work in ordnance depots, factories, and other war industries. American Indians also invested more than $50 million in war bonds, and contributed generously to the Red Cross and the Army and Navy Relief societies.
Battle-experienced American Indian troops from World War II were joined by newly recruited Native Americans to fight Communist aggression during the Korean conflict. The Native American's strong sense of patriotism and courage emerged once again during the Vietnam era. More than 42,000 Native Americans, more than 90 percent of them volunteers, fought in Vietnam. Native American contributions in United States military combat continued in the 1980s and 1990s as they saw duty in Grenada, Panama, Somalia, and the Persian Gulf.
Native Americans As Warriors
As the 20th century comes to a close, there are nearly 190,00 Native American military veterans. It is well recognized that, historically, Native Americans have the highest record of service per capita when compared to other ethnic groups. The reasons behind this disproportionate contribution are complex and deeply rooted in traditional American Indian culture. In many respects, Native Americans are no different from others who volunteer for military service. They do, however, have distinctive cultural values which drive them to serve their country. One such value is their proud warrior tradition.
In part, the warrior tradition is a willingness to engage the enemy in battle. This characteristic has been clearly demonstrated by the courageous deeds of Native Americans in combat. However, the warrior tradition is best exemplified by the following qualities said to be inherent to most if not all Native American societies: strength, honor, pride, devotion, and wisdom. These qualities make a perfect fit with military tradition.
Strength
To be an American Indian warrior is to have physical, mental, and spiritual strength. A warrior must be prepared to overpower the enemy and face death head-on.
We honor our veterans for their bravery and because by seeing death on the battlefield, they truly know the greatness of life. --Winnebago Elder
American Indian soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen have fought heroically in all of this century's wars and armed conflicts. They have not only been formally recognized for their bravery through military decoration but through anecdotal observation as well.
The real secret which makes the Indian such an outstanding soldier is his enthusiasm for the fight. --U.S. Army Major, 1912
More important, however, is the warrior's spiritual strength. Many traditional cultures recognize that war disrupts the natural order of life and causes a spiritual disharmony. To survive the chaos of war is to gain a more intimate knowledge of life. Therefore, military service is a unique way to develop an inner strength that is valued in Native American society.
Having a strong sense of inner spirituality is also a part of the Indian character. Many Native Americans are raised on rural or remote reservations, an environment that fosters self- reliance, introspection, and a meditative way of thinking. These character traits can be very beneficial when adapting to the occasional isolation of military life in times of both peace and war.
Honor, Pride, Devotion
Warriors are honored - honored by their family and their tribe. Before going into service and upon their return, warriors are recognized by family and community. Recognition takes place through private family gatherings, or through such public ceremonies as tribal dances or intertribal ceremonies.
My people honored me as a warrior. We had a feast and my parents and grandparents thanked everyone who prayed for my safe return. We had a "special" [dance] and I remembered as we circled the drum, I got a feeling of pride. I felt good inside because that's the way the Kiowa people tell you that you've done well. --Kiowa Vietnam Veteran
Being a warrior in traditional American Indian society gives one a sense of pride and a sense of accomplishment at a time in life when self-esteem is just developing. Becoming a warrior brings status to young men and women in their culture. The ceremonies that honor the warrior create a special place in the tribe's spiritual world.
After I got home, my uncles sat me down and had me tell them what it [the war] was all about. One of them had been in the service in World War II and knew what war was like. We talked about what went on over there, about killing and the waste, and one of my uncles said that God's laws are against war. They never talked about those kinds of things with me before. --Cherokee Vietnam Veteran
United States military service provides an outlet for Native Americans to fulfill a cultural purpose rooted in tradition -- to fight and defend their homeland. This purpose is particularly important since it comes when young people of the tribe are normally not old enough to assume a leadership role in their traditional culture. The cultural expectation to be a warrior provides a purpose in life and is an important step in gaining status in Native America culture.
When I went to Germany, I never thought about war honors, or the four "coups" which an old-time Crow warrior had to earn in battle....But afterwards, when I came back and went through this telling of war deeds ceremony... lo and behold I [had] completed the four requirements to become a chief. --Crow World War II Veteran
Native American warriors are devoted to the survival of their people and their homeland. If necessary, warriors will lay down their lives for the preservation of their culture, for death to the American Indian warrior is but another step in the advancement of life. It is understood that the warrior's spirit lives on eternally. So, warriors do not fear death, but rather regard it as the ultimate sacrifice for their own and their people's continued survival.
Wisdom
The warrior seeks wisdom. Wisdom, as used in this context, means the sum total of formal learning and worldly experiences. In wartime, those Native Americans seeing heavy combat had to learn how to survive, often using skills that may unit commanders thought were inherent to the American Indian's cultural background. A Sac and Fox/Creek Korean veteran remarked:
My platoon commander always sent me out on patrols. He. . . probably thought that I could track down the enemy. I don't know for sure, but I guess he figured that Indians were warriors and hunters by nature.
Many American Indians (as well as non-Indian volunteers) joined the military in World War I to satisfy their sense of adventure. Most had never left the confines of their hometown, much less marched on the battlefields of Europe. These experiences provided a wisdom through exposure to other people and cultures. This was sometimes threatening to the elders of a tribe, who feared that this newfound worldliness would cause unwanted change to their culture. Over time, however, this wisdom of worldly events and peoples was accepted by tribal leaders. Today, Native Americans are increasingly exposed to the non- Indian world through movies and television. Although the military is still an avenue for seeing the world, it has, in the latter half of the 20th century, also provided other types of wisdom. Military service offers excellent educational and job skill opportunities for Native American me and women who frequently come from educationally disadvantaged communities.
Wisdom can also be gained from interaction with others. Military policy in the 20th century has preferred assimilating the American Indian into regular units. Although some divisions had more Native American troops than others, there were never all-Indian units. This meant that Indians and non-Indians were placed in close-knit groups, perhaps each experiencing each other's culture up close for the first time.
There was a camaraderie [in the Air Force] that transcends ethnicity when you serve your country overseas in wartime. --Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Cheyenne Korean veteran
Similarly, intertribal relationships were developed, sometimes with a person who was a traditional "enemy." Many times these intercultural and intertribal contacts broke through stereotypes and resulted in lifelong friendships, friendships that otherwise might never have been cultivated.
Thanks to my military service [in the Navy], I now have friends in 500 tribes. --Lakota Korean veteran
The Warrior Tradition Carries On
The requirements for successful military service -- strength, bravery, pride, and wisdom - match those of the Indian warrior. Military service affords an outlet for combat that fulfills a culturally determined role for the warrior. Therefore, the military is an opportunity for cultural self-fulfillment. By sending young tribal members off to be warriors, they return with experiences that make them valued members of their society. Finally, the military provides educational opportunities, which allow Native American veterans to return to their community with productive job skills to improve their quality of life.
With the 21st century on the horizon, the United States military can be expected to provide continuing opportunity for Native American men and women. For their part, Native Americans can be expected to carry on their centuries-old warrior tradition- serving with pride, courage, and distinction.
15 August 1997
Native American Vietnam Veterans
FROM redeyevideo.com
Native American Vietnam Veterans
Native Americans have one of the highest record of service in the Vietnam era conflict, per capita, of any ethnic group. A majority of these men enlisted, and a disproportional number served in combat positions: in infantry regiments, tank battalions, airborne and airmobile units, and artillery batteries.
At first glance, these statistics might seem surprising. After all, historically, the U.S. military took Native land by force, and wiped out a generation of Indian warriors. Paradoxically, however, the recruitment of Native Americans had been as much a federal policy as Indian removal. Indians were recruited to fight with American forces against the British and the French. Native American served in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, and were recruited by both sides in the Civil War.
A much more powerful and persistant reason for the record of service, is that, in fact, many Indian veterans think of their modern warfare experience in terms of much older traditions. For many tribes, war was equally a physical and spiritual experience. Warriors were ritually prepared for, and ceremonially returned from the battlefield. Young men desired to have their strength, courage, and honor tested in war.
But Vietnam was a very different kind of conflict. The perennial problem of finding and fixing enemy positions was a complicated and almost impossible task. There was no simple distinction between civilian and combatant. And the use of mines, foot-traps, and other distance devices put the enemy nowhere and everywhere. It made any manoever extremely dangerous. Last, but not least, the political divisions at home caused uncertainty and anger.
In some ways the experience of Native Americans is very similar to other Vietnam veterans, and in other ways, very different. What follows are excerpts from the documentary, WARRIORS . Each person we interviewed is represented here in their own words, as they share different aspects of their war-time experience. This introduction is adapted from Strong Hearts, Wounded Souls: Native American Vietnam Veterans by Tom Holm, University of Texas Press, 1996
Dreams
I still have dreams about it. I've dreamed that I've gone back for the second time, and now my dreams are that I'm going back for the third tour in Vietnam. And I don't understand why I'm having these dreams. In my dreams I'll be flying out of the States, and I'm looking around and I can't figure out why I'm going back for the third time and some guys haven't gone over there yet.
Chris White
A lot of the dreams I had when I first came back, I would be in a fire fight or a battle and have a rifle in my hand. And these guys are coming and coming and I'm pulling on the trigger, and I can't pull it. It won't fire. Well, in that firefight that I was wounded in, they overran us three times that first night.
Myron Williams
Most of the time I try to look at it like a dream, like I never really was over there. I know I was, but I always just felt this way, like it was something I dreamed. That was just one of my ways of dealing with it, I guess.
Vernon White
Why They Went
Back in World War I, over 10,000 Indians served in the military. Citizenship wasn't granted to all American Indians until 1924, six years after the war was over. Yet these Indians volunteered. They went and served.
Harold Barse
In those days, you didn't have the entertainment, like we have today. The big entertainment was to stand around telling stories. Whether it was at a drinking party, or out ricing, it's real common to slip into story-telling. And I can name guys- going back to World War II- the warriors, the vets from all the wars, all the way through. And I'd listen to these stories and I'd say, I'm from here, I'm a warrior. I come from a long line of warriors, back to when the Chippewa were fighting the Sioux. So I feel like I'm part of that line.
Jim Northrup
I think that was a way of getting away from the reservation. For me, it was something to do. I didn't wait to get drafted.
Myron Williams
I had a friend that was killed in Vietnam. And I'd seen a lot of it on TV. I couldn't really believe it. It was like a movie. And I thought, well, it couldn't really be that bad. I don't know how to explain it, I just joined. I enlisted. About a year later, I was over there. It was real, all right.
Vernon White
Warrior Tradition
I was named by my great grandfather when I was a child. I was blessed by him and given a name. It means "the little warrior". He told my mother that I would be the one to carry on our tradition as a warrior. So it's been more or less since birth that I've been kind of destined to served in a war.
Ed Yava
Many of the Indian tribes had warriors dances, soldier dances, peyote meetings, prayer meetings, feasts, or something along those lines to prepare the individuals to go. The bullet-proofing ceremony for some tribes. And he's given recognition and honor when he leaves. We did a survey and it looks like forty per cent of the Indians had some kind of tribal recognition or feast or something, going or coming home. That's forty per cent. So there's sixty per cent who didn't have anything for themselves. Their family didn't have the money to provide something like this, or maybe the family wasn't a traditional family.
Harold Barse
Stereotypes
The first survey we did said that 37 per cent had been wounded. That's a pretty high percent rate. The reason for that was that they were in the front lines. If you are an Indian, you are supposed to be good. We had one Navajo guy who was born and reared in the city. And he had no conception of making his way around in the woods, or anything. And yet, he was put on point, because he was an Indian.
Harold Barse
We were supposed to be great sneak artists, brave, etc. We were supposed to be able to sneak into enemy camp and do things. Every time an operations came up, you would find yourself either leading a patrol, or the point man. When you'd question that, they'd say "Well, you Indians have that sixth sense." A lot of times I just said "Bullshit." We have the same faults as the other guy.
Ed Yava
Coming Home
Indian people have always respected their vets. It's never made any difference with the politics of the war. They recognize these people who have done a sacrifice for them. When they serve, they are serving for their people. And that's who they do it for. And Indians recognize this. So when they come home, they come home with honor and dignity. Not like many of the non-Indians who came home to outright hostility. Yet, that does not keep you from having the problems. Indians are human beings, too. Traumatic events are traumatic for us as well as the for a non-Indian.The only thing Indian people do, is, they recognize this. Indian people have recognized that war changes people. For centuries and centuries and centuries, they've known this. So when you send a person to war, something happens to him out there. But- they are not held in any low esteem. It's recognized that- these people did something that is completely against the law of the universe. They stepped into total turmoil, disruption. And they did this for their people.
Harold Barse
I think a lot of the problems that a lot of Native American Vietnam vets have is much deeper than the drugs and alcohol. There's a lot of inner things that are happening in that person. Be it cultural differences, or what they've seen or experienced. The mud, the blood, all those things. I think it's deeper than the drugs itself.
Ron Hernandez
Post Traumatic Stress
All societies recognize this. If you are going to send someone off to war. there is an unwritten contract that you are going to bring these people home with honor and respect. And it's always happened in this country. Except with the Vietnam war. The frustration of the war fell upon the vet himself. They turned out to be the bad guys. That's why there is the magnitude of problems among the Vietnam vets. And why the problems have persisted for so long.
Harold Barse
I think a lot of times we didn't know where to go with our problems, our frustrations, and our searching for answers. Indian vets are no different than anyone else. I went to Nam out of curiosity. I wasn't there for any particular patriotic reason, but when I came back, I suffered from what I know now as delayed stress. I just thought it was growing pains or whatever. I didn't have a name for it. I just felt rotten.
Grady Renville
When I first got back, I had a lot of anger in me and I don't know why. I understood more about it when I got back then when I was over there. I had no idea except I thought I was doing my job. And I ran into other people and everyone seemed to be against the war. So I never talked about it. I kept it to myself, my feelings, my opinions. And I started getting angrier and angrier. I did a lot of drugs and drinking, that was part of it. To forget. It was just kind of a bad experience. Yet I had some good times over there, too.
Vernon White
Hardcore
The first time I went to Vietnam I was nineteen years old. I turned twenty in Vietnam. And that was really the most hazardous tour of duty in Vietnam because I did see a lot of action and I spent a lot of time as an infantry trooper. And I saw a lot of people die that first time in Vietnam. And it hardened me. It hardened me to the point where I didn't believe in a lot of things I had been taught to believe in. The goodness of man and God, and trust, things like that. That first tour in Vietnam destroyed a lot of things in me.
Jerald Lytle
The reason I suffered delayed stress was- well, we had a phrase in the Marine Corps. It was called hard core. It was a compliment if you were hard core. But it had a negative effect when you came home because up until that period in my life I hadn't experienced any intense emotions other than fear. I hadn't experienced grief, intense hate, intense love, or anything like that. And in the Marine Corps, to some degree, you try to suppress those emotions. Then after my brother was killed, all these emotions came out. I had a hard time dealing with them.
Grady Renville
Leadership
When you are in the service, you come back with- forgetting for a moment the delayed stress syndrome- a lot of skills. At least I did. Having served in the army, I was in administration. In the Navy, I had a medical background. And you come back with a certain amount of maturity, you come back with a certain amount of confidence. And these are skills that are needed to survive anyplace.
Grady Renville
I think if you would look at a lot of the Vietnam vets and look at a lot of the Indian activists periods, you'd find that a lot of them are Vietnam vets. You look through a lot of the tribal councils and stuff, you'd find a lot of Vietnam vets there. Pushing their tribes toward self determination. Sovereignty. They're still moving toward that. I think that's probably a tribute to Vietnam vets because they've had to get up and shake off that image that they've had, and come back and say "We are leaders."
Myron Williams
Pride
I don't think the American Indian has to go into the service to survive. I think they go because they want to. I think they go because they are super patriots. I mean, any pow-wow you go to, the American flag, after all the American government has done to Indian people, the American flag is still there. Always. You always see it there. I think any war the United States fights, there'll be Indians in a high ratio involved in it, in the actual fighting.
Jerald Lytle
One of the things that the Vietnam experience has done for me, I guess, probably the most profound experience, is that it's given me an attitude that I've never had before. It's not that this country owes me anything or anything like that. What it's done is solidified my place in this country. I don't have to take a back seat to nobody now. I paid my dues. I was talking to my son the other day. And I asked him if he wanted to go into the service. He shook his head. And that's all right. I told him that. Because I paid his dues. His uncle that was killed in Vietnam paid the price. I said "You don't have to go". He can go to college or whatever else he wants to do.
Grady Renville
These documentaries are distributed by:
Prairie Public TV
1(800) 359-6900
Prairie Public TV
P.O. BOX 3240
Fargo, ND 58103
Phone: (701) 241-6900
Fax: (701)241-7650
You can e-mail Deb Wallwork @:
redeye@bitstream.net
