Post by Okwes on Dec 19, 2006 12:08:00 GMT -5
Native warriors getting noticed
By Maurice Switzer
BayToday.ca
Friday, November 17, 2006
baytoday.ca/content/editorials/details.asp?c=16668
<http://baytoday.ca/content/editorials/details.asp?c=16668>
[Writer Bio] <http://baytoday.ca/content/editorials/bio.asp?w=79>
"Call him drunken Ira Hayes,
He won't answer anymore;
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war."
The late Johnny Cash often found himself in hot water because of the
words that he sang.
Still early in his legendary country music career, Cash � who
claimed Cherokee descent � fought with his record company about his
desire to produce Bitter Tears, a concept album consisting of eight
songs written from the point of view of Native Americans. The music
industry wanted its singers to entertain, not educate, and raw slices of
real Indian life like The Ballad of Ira Hayes were not seen as the most
saleable products.
Ira Hayes told the true story of a young Pima Indian who left his
Arizona reservation to join the U.S. Marines in World War II and who
became a celebrity by being one of six soldiers immortalized in a photo
of them raising the American flag at Iwo Jima, Japan in the last days of
the war. "You are an American hero," President Harry Truman told
Hayes when he shook his hand at the White House.
But Hayes did not feel like a hero � he was one of only five members
of a platoon of 45 Marines who survived the assault at Iwo Jima, and
that left him deeply conflicted. He also had to live with knowing that
his fame was of no help to his people, whose water rights had been
stolen and farming livelihood threatened by what The Ballad of Ira Hayes
would call "white man's greed". After a night of drinking,
he died Jan. 24, 1955 in an irrigation ditch, the single source of water
provided for his people by the government he had so proudly served. He
was 32.
When The Ballad was released as a single in 1964, many radio stations
refused to play it, as Cash's record company had feared. He
responded by buying a full-page ad in Billboard magazine, accusing disc
jockeys of "wallowing in meaninglessness." The resulting
controversy drew attention to the song � which rose to number three
on the country music charts � helped give momentum to Cash's
career, and lent credibility to "protest songs" by up-and-coming
activists like Buffy Ste. Marie.
The story of Ira Hayes is not a pleasant one. But it is a familiar one.
Hayes' fate was eerily similar to that of Tommy Prince, the Manitoba
Ojibway who became Canada's most decorated war veteran, and who died
in obscurity.
Each was a hero on foreign battlefields, but "just another
Indian" when they came home after war, subject to the same
indignities and prejudice as if they had never been away.
They are two of the most well-known Natives who have fought under the
flags of Canada and the United States, from World War I to more current
campaigns in the Gulf War and Afghanistan. But the Native American
military tradition goes a long way back in history, and includes the
names of great Chiefs like Tecumseh, without whose allegiance in the War
of 1812 the British would not have retained control of Canada, their
last foothold on the continent.
In the two World Wars of the 20th Century, Natives enlisted in higher
per capita numbers than any other identifiable group, an estimated 7,000
enlisting even though they had a treaty right not to. During World War
I, the entire adult male populations of a number of First Nation
communities volunteered for service.
This past year, the Canadian Armed Forces recognized the contributions
of Cpl. Frances Pegahmagabow, a Wasauksing First Nation sniper who
recorded 378 "kills" in World War I, by naming the headquarters
of the 3rd Canadian Ranger Patrol Group in Camp Borden after him. He was
one of only 39 men in the entire Canadian Expeditionary Force to be
awarded the Military Medal for gallantry three times.
Another Anishinabek Nation veteran, Ray Rogers of Aamjiwnaang First
Nation near Sarnia, has served as Chairman of the First Nations Veterans
of Canada, and joined surviving World War II comrades on pilgrimages to
places like Vimy Ridge, where the towering memorial bears the names of
35 Native soldiers.
"It gives me great pride that First Nations people participated so
that we may live in peace and freedom," says Rogers, who serves as
an Elder on the executive of the Union of Ontario Indians. Rogers was
part of a contingent of Native veterans who in 2005 toured European
battle sites and participated in Calling Home ceremonies � to return
the spirits of fallen warriors to their homelands and put them to rest
with their ancestors in Canada.
Canada's long overdue recognition of the contributions of Native
warriors included distribution of specially-struck medals to surviving
veterans and their families, and a place of honour during national
Remembrance Day ceremonies in Ottawa.
Even Hollywood has joined the act. The Clint Eastwood-directed Flags of
Our Fathers, the story behind the iconic photo of six U.S. Marines
raising the Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima in 1945, is generating a great
deal of Oscar buzz. Adam Beach, a Saulteaux from Manitoba, is cast in
the role of Ira Hayes, the reluctant Indian hero who turns to alcohol to
ease the pain of war experience.
When the film opened in North Bay a few weeks ago, an Elder from the
area was eager to see Beach's portrayal of the tortured Hayes. The
movie was great, he reported to a friend, but he was taken aback by loud
comments from a couple of local louts about Ira Hayes being just another
drunken Indian.
Native warriors may have helped win many battles � but they still
haven't won the war.
Maurice Switzer is a citizen of Alderville First Nation, where a
cenotaph bears the names of three of his uncles and his grandfather, who
wore military uniforms for Canada.
By Maurice Switzer
BayToday.ca
Friday, November 17, 2006
baytoday.ca/content/editorials/details.asp?c=16668
<http://baytoday.ca/content/editorials/details.asp?c=16668>
[Writer Bio] <http://baytoday.ca/content/editorials/bio.asp?w=79>
"Call him drunken Ira Hayes,
He won't answer anymore;
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war."
The late Johnny Cash often found himself in hot water because of the
words that he sang.
Still early in his legendary country music career, Cash � who
claimed Cherokee descent � fought with his record company about his
desire to produce Bitter Tears, a concept album consisting of eight
songs written from the point of view of Native Americans. The music
industry wanted its singers to entertain, not educate, and raw slices of
real Indian life like The Ballad of Ira Hayes were not seen as the most
saleable products.
Ira Hayes told the true story of a young Pima Indian who left his
Arizona reservation to join the U.S. Marines in World War II and who
became a celebrity by being one of six soldiers immortalized in a photo
of them raising the American flag at Iwo Jima, Japan in the last days of
the war. "You are an American hero," President Harry Truman told
Hayes when he shook his hand at the White House.
But Hayes did not feel like a hero � he was one of only five members
of a platoon of 45 Marines who survived the assault at Iwo Jima, and
that left him deeply conflicted. He also had to live with knowing that
his fame was of no help to his people, whose water rights had been
stolen and farming livelihood threatened by what The Ballad of Ira Hayes
would call "white man's greed". After a night of drinking,
he died Jan. 24, 1955 in an irrigation ditch, the single source of water
provided for his people by the government he had so proudly served. He
was 32.
When The Ballad was released as a single in 1964, many radio stations
refused to play it, as Cash's record company had feared. He
responded by buying a full-page ad in Billboard magazine, accusing disc
jockeys of "wallowing in meaninglessness." The resulting
controversy drew attention to the song � which rose to number three
on the country music charts � helped give momentum to Cash's
career, and lent credibility to "protest songs" by up-and-coming
activists like Buffy Ste. Marie.
The story of Ira Hayes is not a pleasant one. But it is a familiar one.
Hayes' fate was eerily similar to that of Tommy Prince, the Manitoba
Ojibway who became Canada's most decorated war veteran, and who died
in obscurity.
Each was a hero on foreign battlefields, but "just another
Indian" when they came home after war, subject to the same
indignities and prejudice as if they had never been away.
They are two of the most well-known Natives who have fought under the
flags of Canada and the United States, from World War I to more current
campaigns in the Gulf War and Afghanistan. But the Native American
military tradition goes a long way back in history, and includes the
names of great Chiefs like Tecumseh, without whose allegiance in the War
of 1812 the British would not have retained control of Canada, their
last foothold on the continent.
In the two World Wars of the 20th Century, Natives enlisted in higher
per capita numbers than any other identifiable group, an estimated 7,000
enlisting even though they had a treaty right not to. During World War
I, the entire adult male populations of a number of First Nation
communities volunteered for service.
This past year, the Canadian Armed Forces recognized the contributions
of Cpl. Frances Pegahmagabow, a Wasauksing First Nation sniper who
recorded 378 "kills" in World War I, by naming the headquarters
of the 3rd Canadian Ranger Patrol Group in Camp Borden after him. He was
one of only 39 men in the entire Canadian Expeditionary Force to be
awarded the Military Medal for gallantry three times.
Another Anishinabek Nation veteran, Ray Rogers of Aamjiwnaang First
Nation near Sarnia, has served as Chairman of the First Nations Veterans
of Canada, and joined surviving World War II comrades on pilgrimages to
places like Vimy Ridge, where the towering memorial bears the names of
35 Native soldiers.
"It gives me great pride that First Nations people participated so
that we may live in peace and freedom," says Rogers, who serves as
an Elder on the executive of the Union of Ontario Indians. Rogers was
part of a contingent of Native veterans who in 2005 toured European
battle sites and participated in Calling Home ceremonies � to return
the spirits of fallen warriors to their homelands and put them to rest
with their ancestors in Canada.
Canada's long overdue recognition of the contributions of Native
warriors included distribution of specially-struck medals to surviving
veterans and their families, and a place of honour during national
Remembrance Day ceremonies in Ottawa.
Even Hollywood has joined the act. The Clint Eastwood-directed Flags of
Our Fathers, the story behind the iconic photo of six U.S. Marines
raising the Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima in 1945, is generating a great
deal of Oscar buzz. Adam Beach, a Saulteaux from Manitoba, is cast in
the role of Ira Hayes, the reluctant Indian hero who turns to alcohol to
ease the pain of war experience.
When the film opened in North Bay a few weeks ago, an Elder from the
area was eager to see Beach's portrayal of the tortured Hayes. The
movie was great, he reported to a friend, but he was taken aback by loud
comments from a couple of local louts about Ira Hayes being just another
drunken Indian.
Native warriors may have helped win many battles � but they still
haven't won the war.
Maurice Switzer is a citizen of Alderville First Nation, where a
cenotaph bears the names of three of his uncles and his grandfather, who
wore military uniforms for Canada.