Hobart Keith, Oglala, U. S. Navy, served in some of the roughest battles in the Pacific Theater during World War II. He was a former student at the Holy Rosary Mission Boarding School.
When Hobart came home on leave in January of 1945 he ran into an old classmate, a U. S. Marine, named Clement Crazy Thunder. Clement was also home on leave and he was also a former student at Holy Rosary.
They cooked up a scheme to go to Gordon, Nebraska and buy a five-gallon container of ice cream along with a box of cones and take it to Holy Rosary as a treat to the Indian boys. They ended up buying two five-gallon containers because they didn’t want to leave out the girls.
They drove a pickup truck to Holy Rosary, pulled down the tail gate and got the boys to line up for a wonderful ice cream cone filled with vanilla ice cream. Native Sun News Today owner, Tim Giago, was there and he recalls waiting in line for Hobart and Clement to dish up such a great treat. Many years later after Tim started the Lakota Times Hobart said to him, “If I knew you was going to start a newspaper later in life I would have given you two scoops.” Adding, “No pun intended.”
The Navy veteran Keith went back to the Pacific and served his country with honor. Clement Crazy Thunder re-joined his Marine regiment and shipped out to Iwo Jima in March of 1945. Clement was killed at Iwo. Another Marine at Iwo manning a tank was “Piggy” Tapio. His cousin Nelson Tapio was serving with the U. S. Army in the Philippine Islands.
Joe Tapio, U. S. Navy, also from Pine Ridge, received the Medal of Honor for saving the lives of several sailors, including his commanding officer, when his ship was sunk at Okinawa.
Native Americans have served with honor since the Revolutionary War. They are warriors and no matter their misgivings, have always been patriotic Americans.
So many warriors from Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Standing Rock, Lower Brule, Cheyenne River, Sisseton/Wahpeton, Crow Creek, Flandreau and Yankton served with honor in all of our Nation’s wars. There is an entire list of Lakota that served in Vietnam and Korea and many more went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not a one of them ever claimed to have bone-spurs.
Clement Crazy Thunder’s brother Nick, U. S. Navy, came home to Pine Ridge and became the band leader at Holy Rosary, his old alma mater and Hobart Keith went on to become Chief Judge of the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s Court. Jake Herman, Jr. died as a paratrooper in Holland. Buck Jones died in Korea. And going all of the way back to World War I, Native Americans have served with honor and courage.
Using their Native languages they became the Code Talkers with a code the enemy could never break. Rex Herman served as a Marine in Korea.
And we mustn’t forget the Native American women that served in nearly every war. They stood side-by-side with their Indian brothers in nearly all of America’s wars. During this special week Native Sun News Today honors all of Indian Country’s veterans and heroes.
(Contact the Native Sun News Today Editorial Board at editor@nativesunnews.today)
