Are there any good stories of native Indian Americans fighting in the war? And as as someone living in Europe with no connection to US Natives at all, what is the view of our US members towards them today, no matter in which state you live today. I was triggered by the fact that today 309 years ago the Tuscarora started a war in North Carolina with European settlers lasting over three years. These natives lost some 850 men, women and kids Stefan.
All I know is that native Indian Americans were used as 'Code talkers'. Relying on the fact that the enemy were unlikely to have a native language speaker, they speeded up the passing of tactical information and orders as they by-passed the need for signals to be coded. Tim
Willing to Serve: American Indians (Stories from the Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress)
They fought in all the theaters in all the US branches. US Indian Reservations are theoretically sovereign nations but the federal government, state governments and Indian leaders don't seem to be consistent in the way they apply sovereignty and it depends on the situation. Indians were not subject to the draft during WWI but were during WWII. A famous American Indian is Ira Hayes, one of the flag raisers on Iwo Jima. Ira Hayes - Wikipedia. John Waldron of Midway fame was half Sioux on his mother's side John C. Waldron - Wikipedia There were also code talkers who used their native languages to create local tactical radio codes. The most famous here are from the Navajo tribe but there were other tribes as well with their own languages in both the Marines and Army.
First Nation Americans from both Canada and the USA played an important role as early as WW1 using their language skills (Maoris also operated in this mode on the Western Front). For WW2 see "USA Indians in the War" produced in 1945 - a google on this should bring you to the PDF
The 158th Infantry Regiment of the Arizona National Guard contained a very high percentage of American Indian and Mexican-American personnel. The 158th served as an independent regiment in the Pacific with great distinction and its memory is still kept green by the Indians and Mexicans of Arizona. See Anthony Arthur's fine regimental history, Bushmasters.
With regards to American Indians in our armed forces generally, their attitude towards military service has been much like that of American Blacks. Indians know the warrior traditions of their ancestors and they regard military service as a way of proving their right to belong, of earning their status as full Americans--and remember that for a long time Indians did not have full citizenship rights. Indians served on both sides in our Civil War; Ulysses S. Grant's military secretary, Colonel Ely S. Parker, was a full-blooded Iroquois. After 1865, many Indians served as scouts with the army in the post-1865 wars against the Plains hostiles. (The Sioux and Cheyenne had many enemies among the other tribes, the Crow being the bitterest.) I remember going through the poor Indian and Mexican villages of New Mexico on a train just after 9/11, and practically every house had an American flag in the window. I don't know about other white people, but I have a lot of respect for American Indian patriotism and the Indian military tradition.
Both the French and British had Indian allies in the French and Indian War. The additional taxes imposed on the colonies to pay off the cost of the war were the tipping point that caused the American Revolution French and Indian War - Wikipedia
At least three thousand First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people served in Canada's military during the war. Tommy Prince was in the 1st Special Service Force (the "Devil's Brigade") and earned the MM and Silver Star. https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/people-and-stories/tommy-prince
Thank you for all contributions. At first I didn't want to start this thread, but now I am happy. Stefan.
