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'First Warrior' shows face of American Indian veterans
They volunteer at highest rate of all U.S. ethnic groups
By Susan Whitney
Deseret News staff writer
Eleven photos stand in a sunny corner of a big log house near Park City. For the duration of the Olympics and the Paralympics, these photos will stand as part of a series of free public events and displays at The Canyons Resort.
Only eleven photos, just a little piece of a small temporary museum called the Eagles Dance Indian Museum. Eleven photos. This is certainly not the largest art display to be brought to Utah during the Olympics. But the "First Warrior" exhibit is powerful, nonetheless.
These are faces of American Indians who served in Korea, Vietnam or the Second World War. The black-and-white portraits were taken by an Oregon photographer named Jeffrey Mitchell, who decided to try to build a display of 100 such portraits, after hearing a radio piece on American Indian veterans and learning that they volunteer for war at a rate that is higher than any other ethnic group.
Paula Bandy Hickman is the hostess of this traveling exhibit. She greets visitors at the door and shows them the other artifacts (most of which are Eastern Shoshone, including Chief Washakie's pipe), the stuffed buffalo, and the several art objects that are for sale. And then, she takes you back to the First Warrior photos and tells you something of the history of American Indian veterans:
Within 26 years of the Battle of Wounded Knee and long before Indians had been granted U.S. citizenship or the right to vote, more than 12,000 men and four women enlisted to fight in the First World War. This same patriotism was demonstrated again in the Second World War and again in Korea and in Vietnam. Of the more than 42,000 American Indians who served in Vietnam, 90 percent volunteered.
Yet these patriotic people are America's forgotten warriors, Hickman says. She asks anyone who knows a American Indian war veteran to contact the photographer, Jeffrey Mitchell, toll free at 1-888-888-6990; or Jack Quincy of the Northwest Indians Veterans Association at 503-220-8262, ext. 33413.
The Eagles Dance Indian Museum will be open daily, free to the public, from 1 p.m.-5 p.m. through March. A free shuttle bus takes visitors to the site from the ski area parking lot.
Connie Walker-Evans (Nez Perce), Ret. CMDR, USPHS, ANC 1965-1969
I was assigned to the 12th Evacuation Hospital under the 25th Infantry Division in Cu Chi, South Vietnam. The division came under enemy attack; even our hospital was hit by mortar rounds. But my position in the recovery rooms was what brought me face to face with the realities of war. The amputations and deaths of young men. I was only 24 and most of them were younger. . . . I feel bad that I cannot remember their names, but I cannot forget the severity of their wounds and their young faces. Nor the hopelessness and sadness I felt as so many of their lives slipped away.
The pain I felt for the suffering then and now go beyond any words. The sound of the helicopters meant we were getting more wounded. .ll (Nez Perce) is a spiritual leader with the Seven Drum religion. Axtell's traditional name is Isluumts. He served with the Army's 529th Engineers during World War II.
My great-grandfather, Timlpusmin, was a warrior and fought at the Big Hole Massacre. I was told of the many women and children killed in this surprise attack and that my great-grandfather, who was like a medicine man, had fought with the White Bird Band, and all of a sudden he circled back and got behind a tree, and he started singing. He sang a song — it must have been a power song — throughout that battle. He sat there and sang as hard as he could. He lived through Big Hole but was killed a few days later at Bear Paw (1877). Yellow Wolf marked the spot where he was killed, and I visit there every year. It is sacred ground to me.
When our ship pulled into Hiroshima Harbor, I could see bodies still floating, killed by the atomic bomb. I saw all the dead Japanese, the children, women and elders. I went to the crater where the bomb had landed and the devastation, the carnage, brought me back to my feelings of the Big Hole Massacre. When I saw what happened (in Japan) and when I got back, it was almost a vision of what had happened from the stories that I had heard from my elders.
David Smith (Navajo) was awarded the Silver Star and the Distinguished Flying Cross during the Vietnam War.
No, I'd rather not talk about Vietnam.
E-mail: susan@desnews.com
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February 22, 2002
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