Native Americans, like indigenous populations all over the world, have been grossly mistreated since the first European ships arrived on their shores. Of late, we have heard how the number of Native Americans suffering from Covid is out of proportion to their population. Though ethnic data is not available from every state, where we have it, we can see that Native Americans are three and a half times more likely to test positive than the non-Hispanic white population. This tragedy is, therefore, befalling groups already overly vulnerable because of poverty, poor health-care under any circumstances, and because they often live great distances from clinics and hospitals.
But among the sick is not the only place you will find disproportionate numbers of Native Americans. They are also much more likely to serve their country in the military. This despite the fact that their government once tried to destroy their way of life. Yes, since the September 11 attacks, close to 19 percent of the Native American population--regardless of tribal connection--have served the country, as compared to 14 percent for all other ethnic groups. (And need I say 0% for the Trump family!)
For his service in WWII, one particular American Indian actually--for a while anyway--received quite a bit of adulation. He was a US Marine paratrooper named Ira Hamilton Hayes. And he was not comfortable with the recognition heaped upon him.
Almost everyone has seen the iconic photo of the Marines at Iwo Jima. Here it is with the men identified. Ira is the the second from the left.
After the victory, the men in the second photo were brought back to the USA to appear at bond rallies that raised money for the war effort. Eventually, Ira portrayed himself in the John Wayne movie The Sands of Iwo Jima.
Ira Hayes had always been a bright, studious, but extraordinarily quiet boy. When the image he had been part of was reproduced as the Marine Corps Monument in Washington DC, he was there at its dedication on 10 November 1954. That, it seems, was too much for Ira Hayes to bear. Having suffered from what we now call PTSD, and what we now recognize as survivors' guilt, he had already taken to drinking heavily. He went back to his home in Bapchule, Arizona. After two days of binge drinking the following January 23 and 24, he was found dead in a ditch of exposure and alcohol poisoning. There were, you understand, no special treatments for or consideration of those who suffered from "battle fatigue."
Ira's life was the subject of a 1961 film, The Outsider, in which Tony Curtis played Ira Hayes. Actor Adam Beach played him in Clint Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers in 2006.
Ira, by then, had been buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.
Considering what unwanted adulation did to Ira Hayes, perhaps I should not be upset by what happened to other Native American servicemen. But I can't help it. I resent my country's failure to recognize the critical role Native Americans played in American victories WWI. They were the Code Talkers - soldiers on the battlefields who used their native tongues as a way to transmit secret tactical messages. The Cherokee and Choctaw soldiers in France in WWI pioneered the technique of communicating in their own languages to keep the enemy from understanding.
And those who took up the technique in WWII, were not given the place in history they deserved until 1982.
I knew about the Navajo Code Talkers in the Pacific from my dad. They invented code words in Navajo for English words for which there was no Navajo equivalent. They were incredibly creative about the way they used their own language. In fact, though the Brits at Bletchley were able to break the infamous German Enigma code, the Navajo Code Talkers’ messages were never cracked. Not Ever!
Immensely brave in battle and brilliant at their job, the nation took them for granted.
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