The native legacy of Veterans Day

A couple of weeks ago at the Cherokee, NC Steve Youngdeer American Legion Post Marine Corps League Foundation President Gregory Hunt fittingly presented the prestigious Four Chaplains Legion of Honor Bronze Medallion to former World War II Marine Corps Raider and Eastern Band Cherokee Chief Robert Youngdeer . The prestigious award honors extraordinary contributions to the well-being of others at the national or world level, to world peace, or to inter-faith and inter-ethnic understanding.

November is American Indian Heritage Month and Veterans Day appropriately falls in it. There are 500 federally recognized tribes and Youngdeer is part of a little-known legacy of service to this nation that, per capita, is unrivaled by any other ethnic group in the United States. The American Legion Post is named after a relative killed in action in World War I, where members of the Eastern Band performed a battlefield feat that became a source of legend.

During World War Ones Somme offensive to break the Hindenburg Line, the 30th Division discovered the Germans were intercepting radio communications and checking the advance. Commanders of the 119th Infantry fighting from the trenches, which included Cherokee and Choctaw recruits, came up with the idea to use their language to communicate orders over the radio. These American Indian soldiers, who often had their mouths washed out with soap for speaking their native tongue in stateside grade schools, successfully used it to outmaneuver the Germans and ensure an allied victory laying the foundation for the celebrated Marine Corps Navajo code talkers program in World War II.

They were part of some 12,000 American Indians, who joined the ranks of the armed forces in World War One even though it wasnt until 1924 that Congress granted Indians U.S. citizenship. Their unique combat abilities and survival skills, which had frustrated American soldiers and settlers for generations, became invaluable on the battlefields.

More than 44,000 Indians served in World War II, including the Alaskan tribes who helped repulse the Japanese in the only land invasion on American soil. Lt. Ernest Childers (Creek), Lt. Van Barfoot (Choctaw) and Lt. Jack Montgomery (Cherokee) received Medals of Honor for their actions in Europe with the Armys 45th Thunderbird Division. More than 30 received the Distinguished Flying Cross . Ting Rogers (Cherokee) survived the infamous Bataan Death March, where childhood friend Jacob Cornsilk later perished. Joseph Clark (Cherokee) was the first to achieve the rank of admiral in the U.S. Navy, and Brumette Echohawk (Pawnee) became legend training commandos in hand-to-hand combat.

Their contributions far exceeded the battlefields. Artisan skills were also essential as, Army Corps of Engineers James Chiltoskey (Cherokee) helped to create the relief maps used for the D-Day invasion, created commissioning models, and assisted with engineering and design of countless vehicles and weapons systems.

In the Korean War Capt. Raymond Harvey (Chickasaw), Cpl. Mitchell Red Cloud (Winnebago), and Pfc. Charles George (Cherokee) received Medals of Honor for their actions under fire. In Vietnam, 42,000 American Indians served 90 percent of them volunteers.

The nations most decorated American Indian was 1st Sgt. Pascal Poolaw (Kiowa) was killed in action in that country in 1967 with 42 decorations on a service record that reached back to World War II. His sons Donnie and Lindy were in country when he died; Pascal, jr, had been wounded and evacuated and his other son Lester was in Germany at the time. They flew Lindy to him and then evacuated all of them stateside to attend his funeral. Military service is a tradition to the Poolaw family. Pascal Poolaw had served in World War II with his father and two brothers. Its a legacy that continues today, as grandsons Richard and Roderick Poolaw recently retired after seeing service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Its a war that, in 2003, sadly saw Army Specialist Lori Ann Piewesta (Hopi) become the first American Indian female to die in combat. Four months earlier U.S. Navy Cmdr. John Herrington (Chickasaw) became the first American Indian astronaut to enter space while serving as flight engineer for the Space Shuttle Endeavor.

The legacy of American Indian contributions to the armed forces of this nation is one that unofficially stretches back to the earliest times in United States history. Official clues to it are found in dusty archives, library corners, and footnotes on official reports long since filed away. Its symbols and signs are found throughout Americas armed forces, but survives mainly in the memories and oral traditions of their families and tribal historians across the nation. It should be an example to all Americans and a legacy remembered on Veterans Day.