Open Thread – Memorial Day
Once again, let’s welcome Mudflatter Mrs. D, aka the Mudflats History Department Chair. She continues her adventures in the nation’s capital.
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The World War II Memorial
by Mudflatter Mrs. D
Our stop to the World War II Memorial was personal. My dad was a “kid” of 20 when he fought with the 110 Infantry, 28th Division in the Hurtgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge.
He was taken prisoner of war and spent the rest of the war in the most horrendous conditions. He spent his 21st birthday on a Liberty ship headed for home and thanks to V-J Day, he was not deployed to the Pacific. Like most of his generation, he rarely talked about his experiences. He either couldn’t talk about it, or was busy with a wife, five children and running a business to expend the emotional energy to reopen the wounds. (Probably both). He died nineteen years ago. I really miss him, and I wished he had talked more.
The WWII Memorial is located between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.
The plaque at the entrance reads:
HERE IN THE PRESENCE OF WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN,
ONE THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY FATHER AND THE OTHER
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY PRESERVER OF OUR NATION,
WE HONOR THOSE TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICANS WHO
TOOK UP THE STRUGGLE DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR
AND MADE THE SACRIFICES TO PERPETUATE THE GIFT OUR
FOREFATHERS ENTRUSTED TO US: A NATION CONCEIVED IN
LIBERTY AND JUSTICE.
At each side of the monument were flag poles engraved with:
America came to liberate not conquer, to restore freedom and end tyranny.
The first thing you see is the rainbow pool fountains.
To the north side of the oval pool is a 43′ pavilion commemorating the Atlantic theater and the south side has a twin pavilion commemorating the Pacific.
The walls on each side have 12 bas reliefs commemorating battles of the Atlantic and Pacific and the
war effort on the home front.
Inside each pavilion canopy are four eagles in flight holding a 5,000 lb.bronze wreath of laurel leaves. (The laurel wreath has been a symbol of victory since the Pythian Games in ancient Greece.) Directly below the wreath is a large replica of the WWII medal each serviceman received at the end of the war.
There are 56 granite pillars, one for each state and territory at that time. Each pillar has two bronze wreaths. The first wreath is of oak leaves to represent the power of the and the might of American industry. The second wreath was made of wheat representing the agricultural giant that fueled the war effort. This, of course, symbolizes the fact that not only did America give her sons but her resources as well. All who were alive at that time contributed and sacrificed. Each pillar is bound to the next by intertwining bronze ropes. (Brian was feeling a little homesick.)
The centerpiece of the memorial is the is the wall of gold 4,048 stars. One star for every 100 killed in the war. In front of the reflecting pool it reads simply:
HERE WE MARK THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
The state wreaths start to the right of the wall in order of statehood. Delaware to the right, Pennsylvania to the left, New Jersey to the right…etc.
Each family of a serviceman received a blue star to put in their window showing the world that their son or husband was serving his country. When the blue star was changed to a gold star, it meant the ultimate sacrifice had been given. The Sullivan family lost five sons in the Pacific. When they enlisted they asked to be placed together and the navy complied. They were stationed on the U.S.S. Juneau. Only 10 sailors survived from their ship. Their parents, Thomas and Alleta Sullivan and their surviving sister became spokesmen for the cause and spoke tirelessly to keep up morale. (I’m pretty sure they did not demand bend-y straws.) American Gold Star Mothers still exists today.
One of the engraved quotes by Harry Truman says it all:
Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country
can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will
never forget their sacrifices.
Take a moment today to remember those who have given us all the opportunities we have to express ourselves so freely. Thank a Vet for his/her service. You can register a WWII vet or home front worker on the Registry of Remembrances at www.wwiimemorial.com
I miss you Pop.
This is a loyal and heartfelt tribute. I’m one of the next generation, a “baby boomer”, who heard nothing from my 3 uncles who served in WW2. I quiered some family history and learned that Memorial Day was originally a commeration of the Civil War, declared in 1868. I don’t want to take away from what we do now.
I have remembered the missing in action in Viet Nam, the lost in the middle east, remember there were 1000s lost in Korea, all of those in “the War To End All Wars”. I participated in the burial of a cousin, veteran of Viet Nam, on Memorial Day.
Nothing that my country does now in the middle east/Asia reflects the principles of those that went before. Or I am so naive: Greed, mercantilism, exploitation, “ye olde robber barons”. Then, don’t forget “Blood For Oil”.
I celebrate Memorial Day every year. My history includes the rebelliousness of the American Revolution, the determination for a Union undivided, and liberty and justice for all. And this is the great challenge. After all this time we still cannot defend the basic principles of our country. As a country we now only defend Greed.
And on this day let us not forget Walter C. Monegan Jr – Medal of Honor, Purple Heart – father of Walter C. Monegan III – the former Marine whom we know and love.
Walter C. Monegan Jr died bravely in the Korean War before his son was born. The Monegan family made the biggest sacrifice ever.
Mrs. D, I thank you.
I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.
~Dwight D. Eisenhower
Thank you so very much for this moving quote. And thank you every soldier ever.
Thank you! This was perfect.
I thank all veterans and their families for the service they provided and the sacrifices they made. All war is horrendous and leaves psychic as well as physical scars on survivors, but the two World Wars were particularly horrendous and every citizen was intensely involved and touched in ways that have not been repeated since (thankfully). May those veterans lost and those still remaining have our deepest gratitude and respect.
I also wish to thank you for the link to the WWII memorial. I discovered that my step-father, who served in the European battlefields, was not listed, so I was finally able to register him for the memorial. Hopefully, they will find his records and honor him in the memorial at long last. He passed several years ago without discussing much of his military experiences. It was simply too painful to talk about, and as you said, he was too busy building a life after the war to concentrate on those memories.
I’m rereading Ernie Pyle’s collected columns from the 30s right through to his death in the Pacific near the end of WWII; plus an excellent biography by Lee Miller. Several of the books are still in print, and most are easy to find in used book stores. There is no finer record of what war was – and is – like for those on the front lines. There’s also a representative collection of the columns online: http://journalism.indiana.edu/resources/erniepyle/wartime-columns/ You can read them, or you can hear them read to you. Highly recommended anytime, but especially relevant around Memorial Day.
Howdy neighbor! checked your blog….. lots of familiar places. A small world here in the ‘flats.
Not to diminish the importance of Memorial Day, but I propose a little wager:
Who can predict most accurately what Sarah will tweet about the Gaza Flotilla Massacre? Or will she do a long FB post, or both? Will she refer to the flotilla as a terrorist attack? Drag out the “stinking corpse” quote again? And just what will she “demand” of our President this time?
She’ll support Israel if she does mention it. She’ll be one of the very few. This has called an international outrage. How dare Israel board a ship in international waters.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2010/may/31/israel-troops-gaza-ships
My prediction, a tweet with a direct to a fb essay, this time written for her by someone deeply involved in AIPAC. That’s why the delay in her saying anything, she’s waiting to be told by Malek, Kristol or Cheney what to say.
Tweet will be something like:
“Israel dfnds her frdms frm outsidr trblemkr actvsts, we must support Israel progressing her frdms.”
today i offer a silent word, a quiet thought, a sweet remembrance….Thank You.
IT IS THE SOLDIER
It is the Soldier, not the minister
Who has given us freedom of religion.
It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the Soldier, not the poet
Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer
Who has given us freedom to protest.
It is the Soldier, not the lawyer
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the Soldier, not the politician
Who has given us the right to vote.
It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.
Bubbles: Hey, didn’t you steal that from the quitter queen?
LOL….((((((((LoveMyDogs))))))))
thanks for reminding me. i forgot to say who wrote the poem!!
it was C.M. Province y’all…..woke up all foggy minded.
as my for my sister LMD. she knows how to get me out of the fog. thanks pretty pup.
Lemme quibble a bit.
Soldiers never gave us rights. You can argue that in some of the “Just” wars, freedom was defended.
Our rights are are ours “Inalienable” never granted or given.
Its the role of a good government to protect those rights and the role of soldiers to defend against armed aggression against us.
Its the job of citizens – like the authors of the federalist papers- to define defend and explain the role of government, and our role to become engaged in the process.
Unfortunately our soldiers get sent to war for other reasons. And we need to become engaged in the process that sends them away like that.
“Land of the Free…Because of the Brave”
I used to play army and ask ‘Hey Pop did you shoot any Germans”. He avoided direct answer until I was old enough to understand the answers. I almost got the impression he hadn’t seen any action.
I watched Combat and Hogan’s Heros, and from time to time he’d comment the ridiculousness of the ladder, and the accuracy or not, of the former.
I missed the Vietnam War draft my about a year, so my teen years had a more than academic interest in war. At 16 I didn’t know if I would be drafted.
Eventually Dad opened up to me. I suppose it was the persistence of my questions and my impending draft age that made conversations about those experiences pressing and relevant.
His assignment in Keystone Division put him in the middle of the bloodiest of battles.
The Germans called the 28′s red Keystone insignia the “Bloody Bucket”
Casualties reduced the 28th to 1/3 its size… twice.
He spoke about being a sharpshooter, a POW and spoke of FOOD and slowly starving, of holding a soldier in his arms and feeling the heat leave his body as he died, of having a soldier dead in his sights, and his thoughts about whether to pulling the trigger.
He spoke of soldiers deliberately not making friends they would only lose.
He spoke of marching through Dresden after the fire bombing,
He discovered years later that the 28th division was a sacrificial pawn of war.
He didn’t regard his captors as Evil Nazis, but soldiers and kids, like himself caught up in the most horrendous and sometimes bizarre circumstances.
During the Nixon era he’d call the white house staff Nazis, which struck me as .. well hyperbole.
Halderman and Erlichman we later learned were nicknamed Hanz and Fritz by other staffers.
Dad had it right.
What started out as a childish curiosity about fighting war, resulted in a lesson I hadn’t sought.
What I take from my Dad’s experiences is a sense that its the failure of government and the failure of citizens that require other citizens- kids- to go off to war. He didn’t attribute WWII to some great evil, but the accumulation of ordinary evils. The tendency to join the evil to avoid being its target. The loss of truth, and triumph of anger and fear, and nationalism- and leaders who exploit our weaknesses.
Dad had only to pick up his bronze star, but he didn’t bother.
Dad didn’t wave flags, of participate in these kinds of national holidays.
Maybe they’re more for us than those who actually know war.
For me, the way to honor the sacrifice of those who fought killed and died for our survival and freedom, is to vigilantly protect that for which they sacrificed, and to forthrightly and honestly engage in the political process and hold government accountable.
Because governments start wars, but its citizens who fight them.
great to hear your voice again Dan. i was just thinking of you last night so maybe you caught a thought from the aether.
my father’s attitude towards was the same, although his war was was fought on a battleship in the Pacific.
he came home from fighting his country’s war only to find his own people still the targets of America’s own brand of Nazism. i have his battle flag wrapped and folded just as it was given to his widow at his death….when i think he fought so the likes of O’Reilly, Hannity, Beck, Palin and their supporters could continue to sprout their racism and hatred towards his people i could just scream.
Thanks for sharing, Dan. Long time no hear!
My dad’s infantry unit had 300% casualties. He was in a unit that liberated Dachau, something neither my mom or I knew until my own kids were in high school. He went, and still goes, to his veteran’s reunion every year and mom went with him, and still she didn’t know. None of the wives seemed to.
That service changed him forever. He came home with moral courage, a far greater sense of equality for all men and women, and a sense that no matter what anybody did to him, it couldn’t be nearly as bad as what he’d been through. That sure meant he couldn’t be bought or pressured into doing anything he thought was even remotely wrong.
And he didn’t pick up his purple heart.
I’ve found that most infantry from WWII have a lot in common, and they’re uncommonly good people.
I’m remembering you today. Thanks for your sacrifices. We may not understand them fully, but they aren’t forgotten.
sorry bubbles, I didn’t mean to take away from your memorial, I just couldn’t help myself.
I thank my veteran friends for their service but I refuse to advocate that violence is the answer. I want our soldiers home and safe from the madness. I want those that have come home so battered (both physically and emotionally) to be healed of their suffering. I want to wrap war widows and families tenderly in my arms to catch their tears. I want the killing of civilians to stop.
I think that armies should be for defense only (and that most definitely does not include the “Bush Doctrine”–yes, I know what that is).
Love My Dogs….i included that poem for my brother Johnny Lee a Marine who fought in Iraq and came home a little too quiet. a little too reserved. who couldn’t speak of it to me or to his most beloved wife but waited until my daughter, his niece, went to visit. then he spoke only to her. it is she who keeps his hurt and pain and she will never tell.
Bubbles: That makes me cry. thank goodness he could talk to your niece.
oops: his niece. wiping tears.
I am sorry, bubbles.
I am so darn old, my father fought in WWI, although he lied about his age and was in the trenches in France at 15, fighting for years over the same strip of land. He was a loving, caring man, but I do know about the silences.
On a brighter note, when he got there they asked who could ride a bicycle. My dad didn’t come from a place where anyone could afford a bike, but he thought how difficult could it be? Anything seemed better than having to march. As astonishing as it seems to us now, he went to war as a proud member of the Bicycle Brigade – and in a kilt no less! He was also one of the chaps who played football (soccer) against the Germans on Christmas.
That’s the thing. He only ever told the funny stories about his experience.
dear Forty, no way are you old. you are one of the most beautiful women i have ever met. you have the kind of loveliness that age simply cannot blemish nor death destroy. i hold myself to be blessed because you are my friend….smooches and hugs.
I’ll second that. ((((40))))
Thank you both. You are too kind and I also am blessed to call you my friends.
I remember visiting this memorial shortly after it opened several years ago, and it is one of the most accessible and moving in DC.
There was a bit of hullaballoo over it’s construction and placement which seemed overblown to me. Contrary to opinions voiced at the time, it does not detract from the Lincoln or Washington monuments. Its lower profile and spacious walks allow visitors to more truly appreciate the symbolism.
My father was one of those who served in WWII but could never talk about it. He was in Italy and North Africa and, at one point, all the gunners around him were killed but he survived. I know very little beyond that and I suspect that was one of the reasons he could never discuss it.
His older brother was killed in the Battle of the Bulge and, because of a communication snafu, my grandmother found out when a letter she had sent to him came back to her with the word “Deceased” stamped on the envelope. Several days later, she received her official notification visit. Like so many others, my uncle was laid to rest in Europe.
On this special day, I salute all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, those who have served or still serve our country all over the world, and the families who support them. God bless you and keep you safe.
Yes indeed leenie17 Thank you.
On this special day, I salute all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, those who have served or still serve our country all over the world, and the families who support them. God bless you and keep you safe.
I have copies of my grandfather’s letters, written from France in WWI; these were organized by my father, who served in the Korean War, in the Pacific. My grandparents lost their son, whom I never met, at the end of WWII; he’s buried in Holland, and the Dutch caretakers wrote them faithfully for years.
May our Congress get the courage to insist all civilians pay taxes for the current war efforts- active duty members and families should not be the only ones to sacrifice. Maybe then we will not rush headlong into conflict.
CO Almost Native,
I heartily agree with that suggestion. I’m a Boomer whose father served in WWII. Fortunately, I didn’t have to go to Vietnam. What bothered the hell out of me — and my parents, who were opposed to the war– was that unless you were a young man with a low draft-lottery number, you wouldn’t have known there was a war at all. No shortages, no rationing, no higher taxes, nothing. My mother organized for Eugene McCarthy in 1968, and was exasperated when Democrats she would call to ask to come to precinct caucuses would say they opposed the war but were planning a barbecue, so sorry. It’s just human nature not to care when you don’t have a personal stake, so there ought to be some way to insure that everyone has a personal stake, even if it’s a small one.
My father, who was of the WWII generation, enlisted but was not accepted (flat feet). I don’t think he ever got over the shame that was imposed on men who couldn’t serve in that war. How sad is that? If he had served, I might not exist. Why should he have been made to feel “less of a man” because he was born with flat feet? Or for whatever reason. Why does our society deem that being a warrior somehow makes you “manly”? My DH and BIL from he** were brought up going to military schools and I think (sometimes) that they both suffer from the same sickness (they have both expressed, more than once, their regret at not being involved in a war). If they could stand back from their early programming and realize that war is unhealthy for everyone involved, perhaps they would not suffer from this. This is part of what irks me so when I hear the “for the troops” spew that comes out of SP’s mouth. Wars leave casualties of many kinds at home. I weep for them all.
One of my best buddies in my late twenties was a reserve in the marines and was sent to Iraq during Desert Storm (Iraq part 1). He came back, quit the reserves and rid himself of all of his guns. There is not a stronger advocate for peace out there than this man. He doesn’t speak of what happened over there ever.
Glamorization of war should be a sin.
On this special day, I salute all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, those who have served or still serve our country all over the world, and the families who support them
LoveMydogs you are so right war should never be glamorized as it is especially in movies.They do not reflect the horror’s that these brave men and woman faced. I was glad to see they honored the women who took over the jobs men held to do what had to be done for the effort.I found old news articles from the war and read them with interest. I was born near the end of the war so have no memory except I had nightmares about the planes coming over to bomb us.How weird is that?
It is a sin.
It just isn’t against the law.
In memory of Staff Sgt Jacob Macmillon. KIA, December 20, 2006. Iraq.
Our lives will never be the same with you not here.
Thinking of you fishingmama and all those young men and women who are lost way too soon.
(((fishingmamma)))
(((((((fishingmamma)))))))))))…and kisses too.
My heart-felt condolences, fishingmamma and to to everyone who has suffered loss including those brave souls who returned and must live with their memories.
I spent the entire day yesterday at Arlington and the various War Memorials. The most heart wrenching sight was when I went to the newest section of Arlington and saw Mother’s, sisters, wives and children sitting in front of the markers Some in Lawn chairs praying and crying. I wanted so much to walk up and just Hug them. I didn’t know that I have relatives buried in Arlington, Mom called me while I was there (just about ready to leave) so I had to go back and find the marker. Also did a rubbing of the name of the hometown soldier that I wore his MIA braclet as a teen. and checked out the WWII for my friend and “surrogate” dad John Noga who was there at the invasion of Normandy. Very rewarding (maybe not right word) day.
dear Memphis…they probably could have used a hug from a mudpup like you. glad you were able to go pay respects.
In memory of Marine Sgt. Joshua D. Desforges, Ludlow, MA died serving his country while supporting combat operations in Afghanistan on Wednesday, May 12, 2010.
The world was a greater place because of him, and a lesser place without him. His family is in my prayers.
oh Southpaw. his family is in my prayers also. i am so sorry.
Thank you for his service quote from the Korean Veterans Memorial in DC “Freedom isn’t Free” I’m sorry for your loss
This peacenick jewess is disgusted by Israel’s actions on this Memorial Day. I know the Israelis are surrounded by enemies and made paranoid by this, but for them to treat the Palestinians as sub-human just aggravates and escalates the cycle of violence.
To me, war always means failure. These days, we don’t even seem to bother with diplomacy, we just go right for a military “solution,” which doesn’t solve anything. We enrich the crooked defense contractors (Halliburton, anyone?), and we get more and more efficient at killing without human contact, which dehumanizes everyone. The only good thing I’ve ever seen come out of a war is advances in emergency medicine (the technology that starts on the battlefield moves to the emergency ward, then to the ambulances). There has been no just war in my lifetime, IMO.
I wish everyone health and peace.
Al Jazareera has a live blog going about events unfolding from this event:
http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2010/05/31/live-coverage-israels-flotilla-raid
And I sure do hear you Zy. For the life of me I cannot believe that Israel did this. I feel like I’m missing a major part of the puzzle because this just doesn’t make sense. Even taking in to consideration all of the tension, history, etc. , I can’t make it work in my head. I’m usually able to see everyone’s side , even in the most horrible of situations. I most likely don’t agree with those involved but I can at least see where people / govt’s are coming from, no matter how insane they might seem. But this one has my head spinning.
I think we are all struggling to get our heads around this one. Health and peace to you too, Zyxomma.
I read this and the comments about what happened,so the question is who to believe and hopefully there are videos.
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((zyxomma))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Little Peacenik nothing is easy is it?..well we just keep on keeping on.
thanks to all who responded. I don’t feel so alone when I visit the Mudflats!
Thank you for saying that. I have been increasingly discouraged by the attitude coming from Israel. I hope and pray there will be a path to peace in the Middle East. What’s being done now is not helping anyone or making anyone’s lives better. It’s all so very sad and such a waste.
Thank you, Mrs. D. My heart has been deeply touched by seeing the memorial through your photos and words, even more than the times I’ve seen it first-hand. Condolences and hugs to those of you who are remembering loved ones.
Let’s not lose any more. Get our men and women home soon!
Mrs.D…your pictures have done much for these bruised and aching hearts today.
Thank you, Mrs. D and all the rest of you for sharing your stories.
May there be peace.
I love this song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB76cYS8Ehw
I remember, fondly, my dear friends and fellow soldiers of the US Army Special Forces, 5th Group, lost in the war in Vietnam. There were numerous others lost there but these men were my Team members at one time or another during those days.
Sgt Richard Alan Thomas, KIA 9 Jan 1970
Sfc Larry Paul Bartlett, KIA 9 Jan 1970
SSg David Arthur Davidson, MIA 5 Oct 1970
I miss you all. May God Bless You.
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ to everyone who is remembering lost loved ones today }}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
To all of our current troops and families, especially those involved in these too seemingly endless wars, you are in my heart and thoughts, everyday. And to those who served in the past, you have my deepest respect and gratitude.
A hug going out from here to there for everyone finding themselves letting out big sighs today. There seems to be so many reasons converging today.
As a non-combat vet, I salute you and your honored dead.
Thank you Ashkee for the sacrifices you and your brothers have made.
I’m sorry Ashkee Colorado. I had high school friends, who came back from Vietnam, and were never the same. I’m wondering what happened to Sgt. Michael Scanlon (Green Beret) who was one of two survivors when his camp was over-run by the NVA. I lost touch with him. I’ve tried various social media outlets searching for him; unsuccessful, his name is kinda common.
http://sites.google.com/site/palestiniangenocide/
here is one side of the conflict going back to the 1940′s.
I had an uncle who was in the army during WWII- God rest his soul. I love you Uncle Joe!!
Every year today, I remember Native American military veterans. This year I find it fitting to pay tribute to the original Patriots, uniquely patriotic in defense of hearth and Homeland for thousands of years, and whose passion and fierceness was sought by conquerors new to this continent.
Patriot: one who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests.
Miriam-Webster.
American Revolution, 1775-1783
American Indian tribes tended to side with the Loyalists. Native Americans’ grievances came from encroachment of settlers and abuses of the traders who had now become the rebels, and England promised that they would keep their land by Royal Proclamation (1763).
It’s important to remember context here – there were no “Americans” yet. _All_ the colonists were _English_, choosing up sides as Separatist or Loyalist. North American tribes had already experienced several decades of defending themselves against Europeans in conflict over territory and just a few years earlier had developed loyalties and treaties between Great Britain and France (French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763).
The Continental Congress appealed to tribes: “This is a family quarrel between us and Old England. You Indians are not concerned in it. We don’t wish you to take up the hatchet against the king’s troops. We desire you to remain at home, and not join on either side, but keep the hatchet buried deep.”
Tyonajanegen, Oneida, distinguished herself at the battle of Oriskany, fighting along side her husband, an American officer of Dutch descent, loading his gun for him after he was shot in the wrist.
“I think they [Indians] can be made of excellent use, as scouts and light troops. –Gen. George Washington, 1778
War of 1812 – William Parker, Seneca father of Ely Parker, enlisted and fought for the United States. The United States gives little credit to the numbers of allied Indian tribes, viewing them as primarily adversarial. 13,000 Native Americans fought on the British side.
Interesting sidebar: In 1836, Governor Daniel Dunklin sent 200 militiamen with orders to expel all Native Americans from the state of Missouri. The original Missouri Patriot Militia.
American Civil War, 1861–1865 – 28,693 Native Americans served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. Regiments with Native American soldiers:
1st and 2nd Indian Home Guard
1st Kansas Colored Infantry, the Kansas Colored at Honey Springs, the 79th US Colored Infantry, and the 83rd US Colored Infantry,
2nd Cherokee Mounted Rifles
Indian Cavalry Brigade, 1st and 2nd Cherokee Cavalry
Junaluska Zouaves, 200 Cherokee
5th, 12th and 17th South Carolina Volunteer Infantry, Army of Northern Virginia
Army of the Potomac, Powhatan served as land guides, river pilots and spies.
Company K, 5th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry
Company K of the 1st Michigan Sharpshooters. Ottawa, Delaware, Huron Oneida, Potawami and Ojibwa.
U.S. Colored Troops
The Civil War, 1861-1865 – Most members of the Five Civilized Tribes and Indian Territory “chose” the Confederate side, which saw value in rallying American Indian support. In 1861, the Congress of the Confederacy passed an act annexing Indian Territory and had tribes sign allegiance treaties, agreeing to offensive and defensive alliances. In return, the Confederates promised Creek, Choctaw, Seminole, Quapaw, Seneca, Osage and Cherokee nations that no territorial government would be exercised on them without their agreement, and that the Confederacy would honor the annuities derived from treaties signed with the United States.
The Confederacy recruited military units among tAmerican Indians who became regulars in the rebel army. 6,000-8,000 Creeks fled north, joined by other refugees refusing to fight for the South. When Union troops defeated Missouri rebels, 15,000 Cherokee joined the federal forces.
General Ely Parker, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s military secretary and a trained attorney, was once rejected for the Union military because of being Native. He drafted the surrender documents, which are in his handwriting, when Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse in April 1865.
General Lee mistook Parker for a black man, but apologized saying, “I am glad to see one real American here.” Parker was said to respond, “We are all Americans, sir.”
“Grant and Lee invited the staff into a parlor of the house where they met.
Those who were present, Horace Porter for one, said that when Parker was
introduced to Lee, Lee appeared startled. And the assumption was, Lee mistook
Parker for a Black man and was insulted that Grant was bringing a Black person
to the surrender. There’s another account that said the negotiations were going
to be broken off.” William Armstrong, Parker Biographer
Spanish-American War, 1898
Theodore Roosevelt’s 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry, the “Rough Riders”. A diverse bunch of men consisting of cowboys, gold or mining prospectors, hunters, gamblers and 60 Native Americans.
Four Native American Catholic Sisters from Fort Berthold, South Dakota worked as nurses for the War Department.
World War I, 1914-1918
142nd Infantry, 36th Texas-Oklahoma National Guard Division
All American Indians were allowed to volunteer, whether they were U.S.citizens or not, and all Indian men who were citizens in 1917 were subject to the draft. 2,000 Native American men volunteered for American and Canadian armies before the draft had been put into effect.
Draft boards were set up on reservations, composed of the reservation’s superintendent, chief clerk and physician. If citizenship status was ambiguous, he was considered a non-citizen. However, draft authorities took advantage to enlist some who would not have been legally draftable: those who were non-citizens, had dependants or had failed the medical examination.
Official service records of Eastern Cherokee Band soldiers revealed the Indians’ legal status confusion. When asked if they were United States citizens, some said yes, others said no, some wrote “ward,” and one answered with a question mark. American Indians who refused the draft were sent to jail. An estimated 99 percent of healthy male American Indians ages 21 to 44 were registered for the draft. The Bureau of Indian Affairs ordered an investigation that was never followed up.
Fourteen Native American women served as members of the Army Nurse Corps during World War I.
1924 – Federal law recognizing Native Americans at US citizens.
World War II, 1939-1945
According to military records, more than 44,000 American Indians (of a total Native American population of less than 350,000) served with distinction between 1941 and 1945.
Over 40,000 Native Americans left reservations to work in ordnance depots, factories and other war industries. American Indians invested more than $50 million in war bonds and contributed generously to the Red Cross and the Army and Navy Relief societies.
1,200 Pueblo served in World War II; only about half came home alive.
Nearly 800 Native American women served during World War II. Private Minnie Spotted-Wolf of Heart Butte, Montana was the first female American Indian to enroll in the Marine Corps in 1943. Minnie worked on her father’s ranch cutting fence posts, driving a two-ton truck, and breaking horses. Her comment on Marine boot camp: “Hard, but not too hard.”
Ola Mildred Rexroat, Oglala Sioux from Pine Ridge, joined the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) directly out of high school.
Vietnam
Native Americans have the highest record of service during the Vietnam conflict, per capita, of any ethnic group. More than 42,000 Native Americans, over 90 percent were volunteers, not drafted.
Iraq
Department of Defense data (July 2005) show that more than 24,000 among 1.4 million active duty military are American Indians, including nearly 3,900 women; American Indians represent roughly two percent of the active duty force. • Among American Indians in the active duty military, nearly one-half are in the Navy, compared to one-quarter of all active duty members.
• 20% are in the Marines, 13% are in the Army, 12% are in the Air Force.
• American Indians males in active duty military represent more than 3% of all American Indian males 20 to 44 years old. Approximately 2% of all males, ages 20 to 44, 2% are active duty military.
Trends continue to reflect that American Indian males serve in greater proportion than eligible males in general.
~~
Army Spc. Ryan LeCompte, Lower Brule Sioux, served two tours in Iraq in the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment.The Lakota warrior from South Dakota was a standout soldier, earning accolades for working “tirelessly, without complaint, despite the long hours and harsh conditions he faced,” according to a December 2003 award recommendation. He participated in more than 160 combat missions. He was an “unstoppable force” that “ranks him among the best in the Thunder Squadron.”
In an ironic twist, LeCompte can trace his ancestors to those who fought the 3rd Cavalry in 1876, when 10 companies of that regiment fought in the Battle of Rosebud Creek.
“They ridiculed him and called him a ‘drunken Indian.’ They said, ‘Hey, dude, you look just like a haji–you’d better run.’ They call the Arabs ‘haji.’ I mean, it’s one thing to worry for your life, but then to have to worry about friendly fire because you don’t know who in the hell will shoot you?” —Tammie LeCompte, May 25, 2007
Steve Robinson, director of veterans’ affairs for the Veterans of America, has investigated more than 40 complaints at Fort Carson alone:”The fact that people in his chain of command used ethnic and racial slurs, called him ‘sand nigger’ and ‘prairie nigger’ and ‘wagon-burner’ and other things is very disturbing…”
Fort Carson spokesman Karen Linne: ”As far as his allegations of racial slurs, I know that his unit did conduct an investigation…part of what they found there was the slurs actually occurred in previous units, not the one he’s currently assigned to.”
Special Indigenous units
Indian Scouting Service – 77 years, from Pancho Villa (1916) to a contingent of Apache scouts in France in World War I. The military record of the Scouting Service is without parallel: between 1872 and 1890, sixteen Native American members of the branch were awarded Congressional Medals of Honor. The scouts were disbanded in 1943. Army Special Forces adopted the service’s crossed-arrow insignia. (Reference Roy Cook, SFA-75)
The Alamo Scouts – Acknowledged by the U. S. Army as forerunners of today’s Special Forces, the Alamo Scouts – of which nearly one-quarter of the enlisted graduates from its first training class were American Indian – were a top secret reconnaissance and raider unit that operated in the southwest Pacific during World War II and performed 108 missions without losing a single man.
https://eee.uci.edu/clients/tcthorne/anthro/indiantimes/images/article3_alamo_scouts.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:General_douglas_macarthur_meets_american_indian_troops_wwii_military_pacific_navajo_pima_newspaper_photo_typical.jpg
Navajo Code Talkers – Army Intelligence developed this program based on the Canadian Army in World War I, when the Native Americans acted as signalmen against the Germans to send secure messages about shortages of supplies or ammunition.
March 6, 1942, Maj. Gen. Clayton B. Vogel wrote a letter to the U.S. Marine Corps commandant recommending the initial recruitment of two hundred Navajos for the Amphibious Corps, Pacific Fleet.
It is estimated that between 375 to 420 Navajos served as Code Talkers. The Navajo code talker program was highly classified until 1968. Navajos returned home on buses without parades or fanfare and were sworn to secrecy about the existence of the code.
Alaska Scouts/Castner’s Cutthroats – This small unit comprised Aleuts, Eskimos, sourdough prospectors, miners, hunters, trappers and fishermen, with nicknames such as ‘Bad Whiskey Red,’ Quicksilver,’ ‘Aleut Pete’ and ‘Waterbucket Ben.’ From 1941 through 1943 under their official designation of 1st Combat Intelligence Platoon, these rugged outdoorsmen conducted reconnaissance and intelligence gathering missions and spearheaded amphibious assaults during the campaign in the Aleutian Islands.
At the beginning of World War II, the Army stationed Lt. Earl Acuff on a remote Aleutian island to spy on Japanese planes. After several months went by without hearing from him, the army charged Castner’s Cutthroats with recovery of his body. When they found him alive and well, he was quickly transferred to the Alaskan Scouts.
“I was living like a king. I was diving for king crab and eating fresh seafood and fowl — wild ptarmigan, ducks and geese — for dinner. They told me not to break radio sound unless I saw a Japanese plane, so I didn’t. When the Alaskan Scouts came to ‘rescue’ me, they started thinking that maybe they’d like to stay with me.”
The Scouts were active until 1946, running 20 survey patrols that covered the Alaskan coast from Naknek all the way north to Point Barrow, then inland, south to Fairbanks and west to Unalakleet.
“On August 28, 1942, the U.S. Naval submarines, USS Triton and USS Tuna,
surfaced 4 miles due east of this beach and disembarked a 37-man U.S. Army
intelligence-gathering unit lead by Colonel Lawrence V. Castner. The unit was
known as “The Alaska Scout,” or more affectionately as “Castner’s Cutthroats.”
Their mission was to gather information about the Japanese troop strength on
Adak and to report their findings to the landing force already on its way from
Dutch Harbor. No enemy troops were found, and on August 30, a 17-ship landing
force with 4,500 men and tons of heavy equipment arrived.
Their mission: to build an airstrip and troop staging area in preparation for the
retaking of the enemy-occupied Aleutian Islands of Attu and Kiska.”
Eskimo Scouts – During World War II, battalions faithfully patrolled 5,000 miles of Aleutian coastline and 200,000 miles of tundra, rescuing downed US airmen. Army Major Marvin Marston organized the Eskimo Scouts, Alaska’s tundra army, at Nome and other areas, to defend Alaska against attack. Since 1949, the Army National Guard has retained scout battalions in rural Alaska. These units, largely comprised of Alaskan Natives that were residents of their respective rural areas, have been referred to as the “eyes and ears of the North.” The official mission for these rural units was to guard Alaska against invasion or intrusion by the Soviet Union.
The Eskimo Scouts patrol the western coastline of Alaska and the islands separating Alaska and Russia. The Scouts are the only members of the National Guard who have a continuous active duty mission. Scouts currently patrol ice flows in the Bering Straits, monitor movements on the tundra, and perform Arctic search and rescue efforts as required. As of 1980, at least sixty women were serving in the Eskimo Scouts.
Lifting the Ice Curtain, New York Times. http://tinyurl.com/24hl8co
Interesting legend: “There is a persistent story, denied by the Pentagon but confirmed by Alaskan sources, that an Eskimo member of the Alaskan Scouts (National Guard) was apparently shot to death after stumbling upon a Spetsnaz reconaisance unit in Alaska. Reports indicate that authorities discovered footprints leading from the murder scene to the water’s edge, as well as mini-sub tracks nearby in shallow water. In addition, a piece of equipment found at the scene was identified as being of Soviet origin. The incident has produced serious dissension within the ranks of the Alaskan Scouts: Several members have refused to patrol the area of the shooting and others have resigned. [Editor's note: SOF has learned that the item of Soviet equipment found next to the body of the Eskimo Scout on Little Diomede Island was a Soviet NBC decontamination kit. In addition, an autopsy performed on the scout revealed that he had been killed by a dum-dum bullet of a type known to be favored by Spetsnaz teams.]“ http://www.spetsnaztraining.com
Arctic Warriors, 207th Infantry Group – Constituted Jan 8, 1964 as the Alaska Army National Guard 38th Special Forces Detachment. By 1996, 2,055 soldiers assigned including 464 full-time Federal employees. Guard members are located in 76 communities across the State – more than in any other State. The Alaska Army National Guard has the highest percentage (34 %) of Native Americans in the nation, per capita.
In addition to regular Annual Training events, soldiers take part in several overseas and domestic deployments, exercises, and innovative readiness training opportunities, Alaskans provided real-world mission support in Korea, Indonesia, Southern California, Italy, Arkansas, Washington, Hawaii, Panama, Columbia, Nicaragua and Kosovo.
I’m sorry to spoil Memorial Day. In future, when I look at the fruit and vegetables that I am buying, if it says made in Israel, I will make sure not to buy it.
In October 2008, we spent most of an afternoon in Washington, DC, absorbing the history and the importance of what these memorials mean to our country and to each of us, and actually to the world. The next day we went to Arlington and I really wasn’t prepared for just how moving it was to be there. I knew from pictures what I would see, but actually seeing it is incredible. Everyone should have the chance to go there at least once, but I can only imagine what an emotional and profound impact it would have to be there on Memorial Day.
Thanks for sharing the pictures – it brings it all back for me.
I have an idea!
I think we need to start pushing for Willow Palin to enlist in the armed forces when she graduates from high school. She can follow her brother, avoid the missteps of her sister, make up for the non-service of her parents, and GET OUT OF WASILLA!
Run, Wilow, run!!!!!
OK. I just have to inject some humor into what is otherwise a very somber open thread. I remembered an old joke about a fence the other day and just have to redo it a little in honor of our quitter queen.
There were a girl from Anchorage, A girl from Homer and Love My Dogs found a magic lantern. They rubbed it and a genie came out and said “Since there are three of you, I will grant each of you one wish”. The girl from Anchorage said “hmmmm, how about you build a fence all of the way around the Palin compound a mile high and a mile wide” “Done” said the genie. The girl from Homer said, “Please be sure that all of them are inside the fence and it is very strong”. “Done” said the genie. Love My Dogs said “Now, fill it up with water”.
Blessings on everyone this Memorial Day.
Lovemydogs – But also let $P be granted the gift of being able to eternally dog paddle. I don’t want to wish her gone but I don’t at all mind the idea of her treading water for a very long time.
IMHO- That is entirely up to the genie. Perhaps the genie could give her the choice of dog paddling or a million dollars. Which do you think she would pick???
If they’re silver dollars, she’d sink quicker….
hahahaha…Mona! that was good.
I love that joke!!! that is classic LoveMyDogs…yep we was getting all weepy. well it’s good to have a good cry among pups every once in a while. we was all howling like our brother wolves do.
i wished the genie would throw in a barracuda whilst he was at it.
We went to our Community Service this morning, and it was beautiful. It always is. We live in a very small town in Illinois, just 20 minutes from St. Louis.
I have been thinking about today, and what it means all day. I always do. The last war my family mourned relatives was the War Between the States. But, we have had men and women serving since we came to America and walked through the Gap into Kentucky.
My father and his father both served in WWII. My grandfather was a Commander in the Navy, had three destroyer escorts blown out from under him with “minimal” casualty numbers (Pacific Theatre), was called back to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center to teach damage control, much to his disgust, and finished the war there.
My father had horrible eyesight according to the Army. He’d had a pilot’s license since he was about 13 1/2, but that didn’t matter. Wouldn’t take him in the Air Corps. Scored perfectly on the gun range, because he’d hunted from age 8, but wore thick glasses, so that knocked him out of the Infantry. So, he went as a Medic. Never once in his life did he speak of what he saw/did/learned.
When he died, Mother and I opened a trunk that was locked. In it were pictures. In this media, my father had chronicled his war. We had no idea. He’d taken thousands of pictures, including being in one of the liberated concentration camps. This kind and gentle man, who was to come home and follow the men in the family to law school, practice, and then judge, lived hell.
Right now, today, I have one cousin in Afghanistan. Third tour. Dear God(s), let him come home alive.
wow…Jimzmum what a lovely story. i am glad you shared with us. i echo your prayer.
Bubbles, thank you. I don’t think I have ever shared this over the Interwebs. I sure loved my daddy, and try to do what he and my mother (still here, although in a great world not of this planet) would want.
jimzmum, if I may make a suggestion… have you looked into scanning those photos in? You can either do it yourself or there may be an independent computer geek with his own company who could do it for you. I’m looking at doing that with our old family photos in an effort to preserve what I can. You might also be able to submit them to the National Archives.
My father’s pictures have been given to the Holocast Museum. This was the decision of our children, and the best idea. Thanks!
I would love to see that photo of Scarah from last year’s Memorial Day ceremony reposted…you know, the one where she is wearing that inappropriate mini skirt with the CFM heels. It’s a good reminder that this woman is unfit for public office of any kind.
I would love to see that photo of Scarah from last year’s Memorial Day ceremony reposted…you know, the one where she is wearing that inappropriate mini skirt with the CFM heels. It’s a good reminder that this woman is unfit for public office of any kind.
Blessings to all. Prayers for PEACE and love everlasting. Please let us all strive for an ethical America with justice, truth, love, compassion, understanding, and freedom for all.
Amen to that sentiment.
My grandfather was at the Normandy Beach landings and never spoke of it, although he did speak of his delight at being billeted with a distant family relation. He was born in Chicago, but his parents were immigrants from Normandy and Alsace. He felt that he was helping to free his homeland.
What a great story! Do you keep up with your relatives in France?
This has been a wonderful thread and a very well written article thank you Mrs. D. I am a hush pup and felt compelled to let all you regular contributors know how much you are respected and appreciated by us silent types. My family had the privilege of taking care of my father at our home here in Anchorage during his final months and the impact that World War II had on him was lost on me as a young man. I had similar experiences with my father that many authors here have had, a sort of quiet nonchalance regarding events that were later discovered to be so life changing and influential. Thanks again!
My grandfather was on the USNS Comfort during WWII and was onboard when it was hit by a kamikaze. My family is very proud of his service during the war and like many of you, we never heard him speak of it. I was a teenager when he died, and he’d been in ill health since I was a child, but I do now wish I’d been able to speak with him about what he saw and did during the war.
We did come across a newsreel of the kamikaze attack and my grandfather can be seen on camera walking through the rubble. (We’re pretty sure it’s him, he always wore his hat cocked to the side and he limped, as does the man in the video (3:25 on the video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEAo7JnDm_I
Several of the dead that day were nurses, too. Unsung heros, those women.
I forgot to add my compliments and gratitude for a great post and thread.
Mrs. D., I have spent the last few hours in a little bit of a sad. But, it was a good kind of sad, And, I wanted to thank you, and all the Mudflatters. Frankly, everyone of you rocks. For real and for true. Thank you. Thank you. And, just for the fun of it, thank you.
Great post Mrs. D, just perfect for the day.
Mr. Terps’ dad was in the 10th Armored Division in the Battle of the Bulge, and when we visited DC two years ago that memorial was on the list of must-sees. I took a picture of him in the exact same place you photographed! It was nice yesterday to be able to show him that.
It was also nice reading everyone’s stories about their relatives and their experiences. Because, you know, us liberals do not love our country or our freedoms and do not support the military.
How anyone could read yesterday’s post and comments and call this a Hate Site is beyond me. Sure, there are humorous jabs and a few of them come close to being mean, but overall the tone here is respectful, fun, and intelligent.
wonderful posts…thanks and honor to all who served
first my father was a wwII vet…shortly before his death I gave him a tape recorder and asked him a few very open questions. What I got back was filled primarily with the war. My mother and brother were home here in the states while my dad was overseas fighting. Very detailed even after all these years stories of the war…they were all mostly kids. My father was one of the older ones…he was 22.
Then last week on my way to arkansas for an art opening we got stuck in baltimore. While there complaining of our delay…an Honor Flight came in. Honor Flight gives travel to vets to dc so they can visit their memorials. This flight was filled with wwii vets. So we went and cheered them on as they arrived….each a hero. My honor to be at this airport at just the right time. I came home and wrote a letter to my paper…just in case anyone would care to read it http://www.observertoday.com/page/content.detail/id/540740.html?nav=5046
I thank AkM for her link to the wwii dedication site. I went there and found my father had not yet been listed. Now he is…
Thanks…