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Post by blackcrowheart on Nov 27, 2005 17:14:47 GMT -5
Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2005 11:03:24 -0000 From: aliciamaria723 Subject: Natives who've died in War
HI Everyone...Im trying to compile a list of Natives that died in Iraq or Afghanistan...so far ive come up with 7...i hear there are at least 20 more...anyone know? These are what I have so far:
1. Lori Piestewa- Dine'/Hopi 2. Sheldon Hawk Eagle- Cheyenne River Lakota 3. Harry Shondee - Dine' 4. Lee Duane Todacheene - Dine' 5. Quinn Keith- Dine' 6. Joshua Ware (just last week)- Kiowa/Comanche 7. Tamara Long Archuleta (dont know tribal affiliation??)
Any other help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Elicia
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Post by blackcrowheart on Dec 2, 2005 14:19:43 GMT -5
More names were found today:
8. Dwayne Bellanger MCFarlane - Leech Lake Ojibwe 9. Sgt. Marshall Alan Westbrook - Dine' 10. Pfc. Seferino Reyna - Tohono O'odham 11. Lyle Cambridge - Dine.
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Post by Okwes on Dec 22, 2005 22:20:55 GMT -5
12. Marine Lance Cpl. Kevin Joyce~ Dine'
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Post by Okwes on Jan 16, 2006 23:21:11 GMT -5
13. Cpl. Brett Lee Lundstrom, 22~ Oglala
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Post by blackcrowheart on Jan 24, 2006 17:57:23 GMT -5
14. Spc. Clifton J. Yazzie- Dine'
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bearcat
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Post by bearcat on Feb 16, 2006 15:36:18 GMT -5
Bryan Wilson, 22 – Cherokee
Katherine P. Singleton, 25 – Cherokee
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bearcat
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haudenosaunee
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Post by bearcat on Feb 16, 2006 15:40:42 GMT -5
iCasualties US OIF Deaths by ethnicity - icasualties.org/oif/ETHNICITY.aspx American Indian or Alaska Native - US Army 14 US Air Force 0 US Marines 11 US Navy 0 Total = 25 Percent - 1.11% of 2,477 casualties Last update from the DoD: 02/04/06 The source for the data on ethnicity is updated twice monthly. Because of this these figures will not match our overall totals. icasualties.org/oif/Details.aspx
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bearcat
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Post by bearcat on Feb 16, 2006 16:28:21 GMT -5
Afghanistan -
3-23-2003 Tamara Long Archuleta, 23 - (don’t know tribal affiliation?) of Belen, New Mexico US Air Force First Lieutenant [Captain select] Tamara Long Archuleta of the 41st Rescue Squadron died March 23, 2003, in Afghanistan. The HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter [she was co-pilot] was on a mission of mercy to pick up two Afghani children with life-threatening head injuries. Six crew members were killed in the crash which was not designated attributable to "Hostile Fire." Tamara was a Girl Scout, artist/sculptor, valedictorian at the University of New Mexico-Valencia Campus, black belt karate champion … she left behind a 3 year old son, Donny.
6-25-2005 US Marines Lance Corporal Kevin B. Joyce, 19 - Dine' – of Ganado, Arizona Kevin died after falling into the Pech River while conducting combat operations in Afghanistan on June 25, 2005. A large-scale search ensued and his body was recovered nine days later near Torkham Gate, Afghanistan. [2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force - Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii]
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bearcat
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haudenosaunee
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Post by bearcat on Feb 16, 2006 16:34:08 GMT -5
Iraq -
4-5-2003 US Army Private 1st Class [Specialist] Lori Ann Piestewa, 23 - Dine'/Hopi - of Tuba City, Arizona Lori became the first woman killed in the war in Iraq on April 5, 2003. Lori was one of eight soldiers of the 507th Maintenance Company [Fort Bliss, Texas] ambushed near Nasiriyah, Iraq, on March 23, 2003. Specialist Piestewa is the first Native American woman known to have died while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. She left behind her two children, three-year-old daughter Carla and five-year-old son Brandon.
11-15-2003 US Army Private 1st Class Sheldon Hawk Eagle, 21 [Wanbli Ohitika (Brave Eagle)] - Cheyenne River Lakota Sioux - of Grand Forks, North Dakota / Eagle Butte, South Dakota Sheldon was one of 17 soldiers killed when two 101st Airborne Division [Air Assault] UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters collided and crashed in Mosul, Iraq on November 15, 2003. [MOS-13 Bravo Airborne Division, 1 Charlie Battery - 1st Batallion, 320th Field Artillery; Fort Campbell, Ky] Hawk Eagle could trace his bloodline to two great Indian chiefs: Crazy Horse on his father’s side, and Sitting Bill on his mother’s, according to his aunt, Barbara Strikes Enemy Turner. Hawk Eagle was a talented artist who loved to draw and paint, and a classic car buff who knew every model he saw on the road. Hawk Eagle also adored kids and talked about a career in child psychology, looking to the Army to pay for college.
4-6-2004 US Army Sergeant Lee Duane Todacheene, 29 - Dine' – of Lukachukai, Arizona / Farmington, New Mexico Lee, a medic, was killed instantly in a surprise attack when mortar fire hit his guard post in Balad, Iraq on April 6, 2004. [1st Battalion, 77th Armored Regiment, 1st Infantry Division - Schweinfurt, Germany] Lee left behind his 8- and 9-year-old sons. First Navaho killed in Iraq.
9-6-2004 US Marines Lance Corporal Quinn A. Keith, 22 - Dine' [Towering House Clan, born into the Bitter Water Clan] – of Page, Arizona Quinn, a weapons specialist, was killed along with six other Marines when a suicide car bomber attacked their convoy on the outskirts of Fallujah, in Anbar province, Iraq on September 6, 2004 – three weeks before he was due to return home from his second tour of duty, and he had plans to go deer hunting. [2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force - Camp Pendleton, California]
12-1-2004 Bryan Wilson, 22 – Cherokee – of , Indiana US Marines Corporal Bryan Wilson died of injuries he suffered when his Humvee overturned in Iraq, on December 1, 2004. He left behind his 20-month old daughter, Breanne. He was given the American Indian name Many Wars.
1-9-2005 US Army Spc. Dwayne James Bellanger Mc Farlane, Jr., 20 - Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe – of Cass Lake, Minnesota Dwayne was killed instantly when his patrol was hit by a roadside bomb, an improvised explosive device, or IED. He was on foot when the bomb went off near Baghdad, Iraq on January 9, 2005. He went to sweat lodges and received his Indian name, “Oshkii Inini” which means “Young Man” and also going to Pow-Wows in the area and Canada. [2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), Fort Drum, New York] Dwayne joined the Army to get money for college, and after the military wanted to move to California for college, maybe to learn to work on computers or design cars.
7-5-2005 US Army Corporal Lyle Jim Cambridge, 23 – Dine’ [Tábaahá (Edge Water Clan), born for Ozay (Hopi)/Táchii’nii (Red Running into Water Clan)] – of Shiprock, New Mexico Lyle was killed while serving his second tour in Iraq, along with another soldier when an improvised explosive device detonated near the vehicle they were riding in Baghdad, Iraq, on July 5, 2005. [3rd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment - Fort Carson, Colorado] He leaves behind his two sons, 3-year-old Wyatt and 1-year-old Nick.
8-3-2005 US Army Private 1st Class Harry N. Shondee, Jr., 19 - Dine' [Tzil nai Tabaaha (Apache Water Edge People Clan) for Nakai Diné (Mexican People Clan] – of Ganado, Arizona Harry was one of two soldiers mortally wounded while on a mounted patrol in Baghdad, Iraq, when an unseen explosive device detonated near his vehicle, and died of his injuries the next day, August 3, 2005. [2nd Battalion, 12th Armored Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division - Fort Hood, Texas] The youngest of six children, Harry was a member of the National Honor Society and planned to use the GI Bill to further his education to become an architectural engineer.
8-7-2005 US Army Private 1st Class Seferino Reyna, 20 - Tohono O'odham – of Phoenix, Arizona Seferino was killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near his military vehicle in Taji, northwest of Baghdad, Iraq on August 7, 2005. Seferino left behind his two children, 4-year-old daughter Savannah and 1-year-old son Aquilino. [70th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division - Fort Riley, Kansas]
10-1-2005 US Army Sergeant Marshall Alan Westbrook, 43 - Dine' [Redhouse Clan, born for Westbrook (bilagaana)] – of Farmington, New Mexico Marshall was killed, when a Humvee he was riding in ran over a homemade bomb west of Baghdad, Iraq October 1, 2005. Marshall left behind his five children, Marcia, 24, Army Sgt. Ryan Westbrook, 23, who is currently stationed in Fort Bliss, Texas, Anthony, 20, Nicole, 14, and Chaprick, 22 months. [New Mexico National Guard 126th Military Police Unit - Albuquerque] He was the first New Mexico National Guardsman to die during combat in Iraq.
11-16-2005 US Marines Corporal Joshua J. Ware, 20 - Kiowa/Comanche – of Apache, Oklahoma Joshua, on his second tour of duty, was one of four Marines killed, a result of an ambush of enemy small arms fire while conducting combat operations against enemy forces during Operation Steel Curtain in Ubaybi [Obeidi], Iraq, on November 16, 2005. [Battalion Landing Team 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, I Marine Expeditionary Force; attached to 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward) - Camp Pendleton, California]
1-7-2006 US Marines Corporal Brett Lee Lundstrom, 22 – Oglala Sioux – of Black Hawk, South Dakota / Stafford, Virginia Brett was one of three Marines killed by small-arms fire near Fallujah, Iraq, on January 7, 2006. He was the first Oglala Sioux fatality of the war in Iraq. [E Company, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines, Regimental Combat Team-8, 2nd Marine Division – Camp Lejuene] Among his distant relations was Dewey Beard, also known by the Indian name Iron Hail, who fought in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and who also survived the 1890 massacre at nearby Wounded Knee. A grandfather on his father's side was Red Cloud, one of the great Lakota leaders of the 1800s. More recently, his great-uncle, Charlie Underbaggage, was killed at the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. Another great-uncle, Alfred Underbaggage, was killed in Korea. He has relatives at Pine Ridge who served in Vietnam and Desert Storm. His father, Ed, was a career Marine, and retired recently as a major. At the time of Brett's death, his brother, Eddy - his only other sibling - was serving in the Army, stationed in the Iraqi hot spot of Tikrit.
1-20-2006 US Army Sergeant Spc. Clifton J. Yazzie, 23 - Dine' [Mud People Clan for the Zuni Clan] – of Fruitland, New Mexico Clifton was killed while on his second tour of duty in Iraq, along with three other soldiers, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Humvee during patrol operations in Huwijah, Iraq, on January 20, 2006. He leaves behind his two children, 3-year-old daughter, Chynitta and 18-month-old son, Cayden. [1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division - Fort Campbell, Kentucky]
1-20-2006 Katherine P. Singleton, 25 – Cherokee - formerly of Pensacola, FL US Army Spc Katherine P. Singleton was killed in Iraq on Jan 20, 2006. [ - Fort Bragg, North Carolina]
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bearcat
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Post by bearcat on Feb 16, 2006 16:45:48 GMT -5
Tohono O'odham Nation soldier killed in Iraq TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2005
Reyna is the 21st American Indian or Alaska Native to be killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, The Arizona Daily Star reported, citing figures from the Pentagon.
Tohono O'odham Nation soldier killed in Iraq Tuesday, August 16, 2005
A soldier from the Tohono O'odham Nation in Arizona was killed on Sunday in Iraq. Pfc. Seferino Reyna, an Army combat engineer and father of two, died when his vehicle was hit by a homemade bomb. He was 20 years old. Reyna is the 21st American Indian or Alaska Native to be killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, The Arizona Daily Star reported, citing figures from the Pentagon.
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Post by blackcrowheart on May 24, 2006 11:52:42 GMT -5
Subject: Choctaw Marine killed in Iraq (one of ours) To: SovereignNations <sovereignnations@yahoogroups.com> Cc: ndnaim < ndnaim@yahoogroups.com>
Ah-ho My Relations; This young man is the nephew of our Sundance and Oklahoma AIM brother, "SugarBear" Martin. Hatak's entire family are proud traditional Indian people, his Mother, Mary (Bear's youngest sister) grew up as part of Seminole AIM but more importantly she then raised her family in the traditional ways of our people. Recently his Dad (Justin) served as "Head Dancer" for the annual dance my family hosts in conjunction with the annual Ponca Pa-Tha'-Ta. Hatak always danced proudly alongside his Father. Like so many Indian families dancing and participating in the Indian world as a family unit made them close to each other and friends to people of many nations. Of course I can't tell you how horrible it is for this close family to to be shattered by this news. To them I don't suppose the fact that they were given the news on Mother's Day matters, their brave son is gone, but to me it seems an extra hard twist to bear now and in the future. For now we'll do what we must, support the family and wait for them to bring him home. For those of us in the extended family of Sundancers, who recognize Bear as an elder warrior brother, we must give this family our support with our prayers and ceremonies and with our presence if possible. Below are a couple of news articles about Hatak's death. Carter Camp
Overbrook Marine dies
By Judy Gibbs Robinson The Oklahoman
A traditional Choctaw dancer who cut his braids to join the Marines was killed during the weekend in Iraq, his parents learned on Mother's Day. Lance Cpl. Hatak Yearby of Overbrook died of injuries suffered Sunday while riding in a vehicle that hit a mine, family friends said Monday. Choctaw Nation officials observed a moment of silence, then played a warrior's memorial song for Yearby at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday for a new casino in Durant, tribal spokeswoman Judy Allen said. Yearby is the 41st Oklahoman killed in Iraq since the U.S. invasion, according to Defense Department figures. Yearby's parents, Justin and Mary Yearby of Overbrook in northern Love County, declined a request to talk about their son. A U.S. flag outside their home was at half-staff Monday. Yearby, 21, married this winter and went to Iraq in March, said family friend Wilson Roberts of Ada. He grew up attending powwows, where he performed and competed as a traditional dancer, said family friend Shirley Wapskineh of Oklahoma City. In October 2004, he won second-place at the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Intertribal Powwow, and he came in second at the Trail of Tears Powwow in DeQueen, Ark., in September 2003, online records show. Yearby was a 2003 graduate of Marietta High School, where Vice Principal Pam Anderson described him as a quiet, well-mannered young man who was a good student and person. "What I do remember is that they used to travel and dance. He had the costume and all that, and he always wore the long hair," Anderson said. After joining the Marines, Yearby returned to Marietta High for a basketball game last winter. "When I saw him with a hair cut, for a few minutes I thought, 'Who is that?'" Anderson said. "I told him I was proud of him for what he was doing," she said. Yearby wore two long braids until he woke one morning and told his mother he had to cut his hair because of a dream, Roberts said. "That's one of the things he had to do to go into the Marines," Roberts said. Yearby and Lance Cpl. Jose S. MarinDominguez Jr., 22, of Liberal, Kan., were killed while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, the Defense Department announced Monday afternoon. They were assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Marine Corps Base Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. Contributing: Staff Writer Jay Marks
Choctaw Marine killed in Iraq Yearby was a dancer, father is ''barely hanging on''
Sam L,ewin 5/16/2006
A Choctaw Marine from Oklahoma has died in Iraq.
Lance Cpl. Hatak Yuka Keyu Yearby was killed May 14 while conducting combat operations, the Pentagon said. He was 21. One other Marine also died in the attack. Both were assigned to the Third Battalion, Third Marine Regiment, Third Marine Division at Marine Corps Base Hawaii.
Yearby was battling insurgents in Al Anbar province when he was killed. Family members said he was in a vehicle that went over a mine.
Yearby was a dancer, winning second prize in the Men’s Northern Traditional category during the 2003 Trail of Tears Powwow in De Queen. Yearby was married this past February, departing for Iraq a month later.
His parents are Justin and Mary of Overbrook. Family friend Willard Polk told that Native American Times that the last time he talked to Justin Yearby “he was barely hanging on.�
Polk also said Hatak Yearby was a “good kid.�
Choctaw officials say they have tried to contact the family to offer assistance, but have yet to receive a reply. The tribe held a moment of silence for Yearby the day after he died.
Yearby joins several other Native American servicemen from Oklahoma that have been killed or injured in Iraq. Among them are Lance Cpl. Joshua Ware, a 20-year-old Kiowa/Comanche from Sequoyah County killed last November; Nachez Littlefawn Washalanta, a Marine Corps private killed in August of 2004 by a roadside bomb and Pvt. Joshua P. Stein, a Pawnee soldier that suffered major injuries, including the amputations of both his legs, during an insurgent attack in April.
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Post by Okwes on Nov 15, 2006 11:53:28 GMT -5
Marine lived, died for Corps
By Ken Raymond The Oklahoman
APACHE - Today’s powwow at Apache High School will be far more solemn than originally planned. As Mariah Carey’s “Hero” plays on the sound system, girls from the Native American Club will sign the lyrics in traditional sign language. Then a Pendleton blanket will be carried through the room, never touching the floor, and donations for a grieving family will be placed on it.
The song, the signing, the money, the ritual - none of it was supposed to happen. But as news of a tragedy raced through the community Wednesday, the lighthearted powwow, which had been planned for weeks, took a more serious turn.
Marine Cpl. Joshua J. “Josh” Ware, 21, who attended the school until his senior year, perished Wednesday in an ambush in Iraq.
A hometown hero had fallen.
Proud to serve
By all accounts, Ware couldn’t have been much prouder of his country or his Corps.
A spokesman for Ware’s family said Ware graduated from Roland High School in May 2003, then enlisted in the Marines on May 27 - just two days after his birthday.
In March 2004, he was stationed in Iraq as a member of Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Division. Serving in the infantry, Ware fought in the second battle of Fallujah.
“It will probably go down in Marine Corps history as one of their biggest battles ever, maybe even the biggest in Iraq,” said family friend Lenny Asepermy, who served in Vietnam. “He was a grunt, an infantryman, so you know he was in the thick of things.”
Ware returned home in October 2004, then went on a training trip in July, Asepermy said. Ware went back to Iraq last month as a member of Regimental Combat Team 2, 2nd Marine Division (Marine Expeditionary Force), stationed at Camp Fallujah.
Wednesday, Ware and others had just entered a farmhouse when an explosion went off, Asepermy said. At least one Marine was injured or killed, and when others tried to recover him, rebels inside the house attacked with guns and grenades.
Several Marines and rebels were killed, Asepermy said, citing a conversation he and Ware’s mother had with military officials Thursday.
The Defense Department would not confirm details Thursday.
Family reeling
About 4 p.m. Wednesday, Ware’s family learned the terrible news.
The tragedy struck a family already reeling from a recent family emergency. Last week, friends said, Ware’s stepfather suffered a stroke, and Ware’s mother, Alicia Momaday, was left with the dual responsibilities of visiting her husband at a Lawton hospital and tending to three school-age children.
“The family’s really, really having a hard time,” said Donna Watts, who leads the Native American Club, which counted Ware among its members a few years ago. “The mom has been going back and forth, and then this happened yesterday. The family is just devastated.”
Ware’s sister, Randi Momaday, 16, was notified of her brother’s death by her basketball coach during practice.
“Naturally, she’s having a hard time with it,” Watts said.
His brothers, Dustin Ware, 23, Sky Momaday, 13, and Daniel Momaday, 6, also are stunned by Ware’s death, Asepermy said.
“The mother is just beside herself,” he said.
Karen Rodenberg, Apache principal, said counselors and teachers are trying to ease the loss for all the students, especially those who knew Ware or went to school with his siblings.
“You hear about the war every day,” Rodenberg said, “and you hear about the soldiers, but it doesn’t really affect you until it happens to someone in your community.”
That’s why the powwow plans were changed.
“There will be some honor there for that boy,” Rodenberg promised. “It will be a positive thing.”.
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Post by Okwes on Nov 27, 2006 18:31:27 GMT -5
Member of Oregon tribe dies fighting in Iraq
Polson, Mont.- Sgt. Lucas T. White, whose mother and stepfather live in this small Montana city, was killed in action in Iraq, his mother said Wednesday.
White lived in Pendleton until he was 12 or 13, said his mother, Julie Brooks. The family then moved to White Swan, Wash.
White, 28, was leading a patrol in Baghdad when his unit was ambushed, said his stepfather, Lyle Brooks.
White, a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon, enlisted in teh Army in 2001 and served in Afghanistan. He re-enlised and had been in Iraq for five months.
"We're so proud of him," Brooks said.
-From Register-Guard and news service reports
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Post by Okwes on Dec 4, 2006 16:20:30 GMT -5
Tribe bans church protest at soldier's funeral POSTED: 9:46 a.m. EST, December 2, 2006 Story Highlights• Tribal leaders says they want no harassment during funeral for soldier • Protesters says war deaths are God's punishment for tolerance of homosexualilty • Group says it will still hold demonstration, but on public land • Cpl. Nathan Goodiron, known as Young Eagle, was killed in Afghanistan Adjust font size: BISMARCK, North Dakota (AP) -- A church group that protests at military funerals around the country will be barred from services for an American Indian soldier on a reservation, tribal officials say.
Members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, planned to demonstrate at National Guard Cpl. Nathan Goodiron's funeral on Saturday at the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.
Church members say the deaths of soldiers are punishment from God for the country's tolerance of homosexuals.
Tribal leaders passed a resolution Friday that prohibits the group from protesting on the reservation, said Marcus Wells Jr., chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes.
"We will not tolerate any harassment that is intended to provoke ill feelings and violence," he said.
Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of the Rev. Fred Phelps Sr., pastor of Westboro Baptist, said her group planned to protest outside the reservation "on public rights of way."
"We don't get into anyone's private area," said Phelps-Roper, the church's attorney and its spokeswoman. "We don't go on private land."
Goodiron, 25, of Mandaree, known on the reservation as Young Eagle, was killed Thanksgiving Day in Afghanistan when a grenade struck his vehicle while he was on patrol. He was a member of the 1st Battalion of the North Dakota National Guard's 188th Air Defense Artillery.
Tribal officials said he was the first member of the Three Affiliated Tribes to be killed in the war on terror.
American and tribal flags are being flown at half staff on the reservation to honor Goodiron.
"We recognize and respect the right to free speech and the public's right to assemble, but we want everyone to know that the Three Affiliated Tribes, as a sovereign tribal government, has the right to regulate any person or persons who harass and show disrespectful conduct towards our members, within our boundaries," Wells said in a statement.
Wells said tribal police would prevent the protesters from coming on the reservation.
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Post by Okwes on Jan 12, 2007 12:25:10 GMT -5
Mi'kmaq soldier was proud to serve in Iraq Doug Struck, the Washington Post Theresa Seeley with a photo of her son Corporal Michael Seeley. The 27-year-old Canadian Mi'kmaq was killed in Iraq two days before his second tour was to end. Featured Reading - The very best reading from Spectator staff writers and wire services; Military service is rite of passage for North American natives By Doug Struck The Washington PostFREDERICTON (Dec 2, 2006) Someone gave Theresa Seeley tobacco to scatter on her son's coffin -- a gift, in the Indian tradition, for the elders waiting to greet his soul.
She was uncomfortable with it. "That wasn't what we believed in," she said. Her son Michael was raised "like every other Joe Canadian," with little time for the folklore of his Mi'kmaq tribe.
But as she looked around the crowded graveyard at the funeral, on a New Brunswick hill near where Michael had cavorted on his bike and skipped school with full-of-life glee, it was hard to pick the group in which her son had fit.
There, saluting in solemn slow motion, were soldiers -- U.S. officers, formal and stiff -- who had brought his body from Iraq as one of their own. There were other soldiers, Canadians, honouring a casualty of a war not theirs. There were non-natives, Michael's friends from school and town. And there were representatives from two tribes, come to acknowledge the cost of a centuries-old custom that has sent Indians to fight in U.S. wars.
Seeley gently tossed the tobacco into the grave.
Her son, Corporal Michael Seeley, 27, was killed Oct. 30 by a roadside bomb outside Baghdad. He was on the final two days of his second tour of Iraq -- the first with U.S. marines, the second with the U.S. army. He lived in Canada, a country overwhelmingly opposed to the Iraq war. But he wore a U.S. military uniform, as do at least two dozen other native citizens of North America entitled to fight for either country.
"It harks back to the warrior tradition that is part of the culture of many tribes," said John Moses, an assistant curator at the Canadian Museum of Civilization near Ottawa. "Culturally, it remains a significant rite of passage among North American Indians to perform some military service.
"And if they are trying to get in the thick of things quicker, enlistment in the U.S. armed services is probably the way to go," said Moses, a native, who served in the Canadian armed forces.
Michael always wanted things quicker, said his mother, sitting at her kitchen table a week after she buried her son. Hers is a white-frame house with a pool in the back, a basketball hoop in the front and an assortment of cars parked outside. It is "off-reserve" and is like so many other suburban homes spreading through the flat woodland outside Fredericton.
Various others of her four sons and daughter, girlfriends and relatives gathered in the warm kitchen, listening quietly while Theresa talked without tears of Michael, the rambunctious one.
He was easily bored, anxious to get on with life. School did not interest him, but he liked being a cadet in the reserves. After he graduated from Fredericton High School in 1998, the Canadian military said they would have a space for him in a year. Instead, he called the U.S. marines in Maine and insisted on joining right away.
The Pentagon says the U.S. military includes 172 persons born in Canada, most with dual citizenship or U.S. permanent residence status.
But Canadian-born First Nations need not meet those requirements. A 1794 treaty between the fledgling United States and Britain recognized that native bands straddled the border and should cross freely.
That pact, called the Jay Treaty, formalized the long history of cross-border enlistment. Six hundred Nova Scotian Mi'kmaq fought with George Washington. A Canadian Mohawk was a cavalry lieutenant at the side of Lieutenant-Colonel George Custer at the massacre at Little Bighorn. Canadian natives have fought as U.S. troops in every modern war.
After Sept. 11, 2001, Theresa Seeley knew her son's choice would send him to war. He went as a sniper with the first troops into Iraq in 2003, and reached Baghdad unscathed. His letters from the field, dutifully collected by the U.S. military, were returned to him for lack of Canadian postage. He ended his tour undaunted, complaining only that his marine pay was too low.
"He loved the challenge of it. But it never seemed he could get ahead," said his mother. He switched his enlistment to the army, which seemed to have a better pay package, and returned to Iraq in October 2005. He was supposed to come home Oct. 28 but volunteered to stay four days longer to allow others in his unit more leave time for Thanksgiving in the United States.
On the evening of Oct. 30, two officers of the RCMP arrived at Theresa's door. Her son had been driving a Humvee in a patrol convoy, they said. The concussion of the bomb killed him, they said.
"There must be a mistake," Theresa Sweeney said.
The website icasualties.org, which tracks Iraq war fatalities, identifies 29 First Nations or Alaska native troops killed so far, but does not distinguish which side of the porous border they came from.
Seeley said she does not regret that her son used his native heritage as a ticket from Canada to Iraq.
"It was always up to him," she said, with a steady voice. She laughs more than cries at her memories. Her family calls her strong, brave. She shakes her head in disagreement.
"I've seen him" in his coffin, "seen how peaceful he looked. I've had a funeral. But there's no feeling," she said, a swell of frustration rising to catch her voice. Just for a moment. She recovers.
"Part of me doesn't believe it," she says. "When I do -- when I start to feel -- I may fall apart."
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