Plans to honor WWI Native veterans in North Dakota

via the Minot Daily News web site

BISMARCK, ND — Even before most Native Americans had citizenship rights, thousands of men from tribes across the country showed their patriotism by volunteering for the military and fighting in World War I.

Private 1st Class John Elk of Standing Rock Reservation in 1919 served in Company D, 139th Infantry Regiment (35th Division), with several other Native servicemen from tribes in North Dakota. Elk has been posthumously recognized as a code-talker in World War I. His commanding officer said he was an “exceptionally good scout, was very cool and calm but very quiet.” From “Warriors in Khaki,” by Michael and Ann Knudson. Photo from British National Archives.Now, as the nation solemnly marks the World War I Centennial, United Tribes Technical College at Bismarck is planning to honor Native American servicemen from North Dakota tribes who served and sacrificed. The honoring will be held on Sept. 10 during the 2017 UTTC International Powwow at the college in Bismarck.

“One hundred years ago men from our tribes willingly chose to enter the military,” said Leander R. McDonald, UTTC president, one of the planners of a World War I memorial on the college campus. “They didn’t have to do that. It was prior to the time when all Native people were granted U. S. citizenship. But they stepped-up. And we owe it to them to remember.”

N.D. Indian recruits

Native veterans are highly respected and revered throughout Indian Country. An estimated 10,000 American Indians served in the Army in World War I and two,000 in the Navy. Historians characterize their patriotism as remarkable despite having no reason to serve as most were not yet citizens.

In North Dakota, many were recruited in 1917 by Alfred B. Welch of Mandan, an officer in the North Dakota National Guard. Welch befriended Chief John Grass of Standing Rock and was adopted by him into the tribe. He commanded a company of the Guard in France during the war and looked after the wellbeing of Native servicemen.

“I had, in every instance under my observation, found them to be soldiers of great courage, initiative and intelligence,” wrote Welch about the loyalty and behavior of North Dakota Indians who made it good in the great war. “[they were] always volunteers for the most dangerous missions; brave to the point of recklessness; and had proven themselves to be soldiers of the highest type.”

Code Talkers

In World War I Native servicemen performed duties in all military capacities. But one assignment offered a singular purpose not available to others. Those who became messengers and telephone operators transmitted information in Native languages and dialects. Along with men from a handful of other tribes, servicemen speaking Lakota were among the first Native “Code Talkers” in the military.

Only in recent years have Lakota Code Talkers been posthumously recognized for what they did in World War I, often to the surprise of descendants who knew little of the nature of their service. That’s because they remained faithful to their oath of silence, preserving the effectiveness of that field tactic for use later during World War II.

Read the entire article on the Minot Daily News web site here.

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