{"id":91773,"date":"2019-11-11T01:09:10","date_gmt":"2019-11-11T01:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/film-probes-history-of-native-americans-in-the-u-s-military\/"},"modified":"2019-11-11T01:09:10","modified_gmt":"2019-11-11T01:09:10","slug":"film-probes-history-of-native-americans-in-the-u-s-military","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/film-probes-history-of-native-americans-in-the-u-s-military\/","title":{"rendered":"Film probes history of Native Americans in the U.S. military"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=3e0a7601-bf71-4a4f-bd4e-229ef77316d4&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1345\" alt=\"On this July 8, 1986, World War II Navajo veterans and supporters march through the reservation in a show of solidarity against giving up any of their land to the Hopis in Arizona. \u201cThe Warrior Tradition,\u201d a new film set to air Monday on most PBS stations, examines the history of Native Americans in the U.S. military since World War I.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">On this July 8, 1986, World War II Navajo veterans and supporters march through the reservation in a show of solidarity against giving up any of their land to the Hopis in Arizona. \u201cThe Warrior Tradition,\u201d a new film set to air Monday on most PBS stations, examines the history of Native Americans in the U.S. military since World War I.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">Jeff Robbins\/Associated Press file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><p>ALBUQUERQUE \u2013 Before Chuck Boers joined the U.S. Army, the Lipan Apache member was given his family\u2019s eagle feathers. The feathers had been carried by his great-great-great-grandfather on his rifle when he was an Apache scout.<\/p>\n<p>They also were carried by relatives who fought in World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. In 2004, Boers had the feathers with him during the Battle of Fallujah in Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt like I had my family with me to protect me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video wp-block-embed-youtube naviga-video-embed\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sLrd9T6V0mE\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe Warrior Tradition,\u201d a new film set to air on PBS, examines the complex history of Native Americans in the U.S. military since World War I and how their service transformed the lives for Native Americans from various tribes. Through interviews with veterans and using archival footage, the documentary probes the complicated relationship Native Americans had with military service and how they used it to press for civil rights.<\/p>\n<p>The documentary exhibits the mixed feelings some Native Americans felt toward the U.S. military and how tribal members embraced those who served as \u201cwarriors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom just about the beginning of the United States itself, the government has fought various wars against Native nations. And that\u2019s the irony,\u201d Patty Loew, director of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research at Northwestern University, said in the film.<\/p>\n<p>But Native Americans, from tribes in Oklahoma to nations in Washington, joined the U.S. military to honor their \u201cend of the treaty\u201d that the U.S. government previously broke, Loew said.<\/p>\n<p>At the onset of World War I, the first generation of Native Americans after the so-called Indian Wars began joining the U.S. Army even though they weren\u2019t considered citizens or allowed to vote. Returning veterans, and also those from World War II, earned accolades for their service. For example, Comanche and Navajo Code Talkers in World War II were credited with passing secrets amid hostile fighting.<\/p>\n<p>The returning veterans began demanding the right to vote and fought against discrimination. For example, Miguel Trujillo Sr., a Marine sergeant in World War II and a member of Isleta Pueblo in New Mexico, returned and waged a legal battle to overturn that state\u2019s law that barred Native Americans living on reservations from participating in elections.<\/p>\n<p>Director Larry Hott said the veterans in the film believed military service was part of their family history and wasn\u2019t just about a way to escape poverty. It\u2019s part of a legacy that goes back generations, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany have waited a long time to talk about this,\u201d Hott said. \u201cOne veteran told me he hadn\u2019t even told his wife about his experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Retired Army Sgt. Maj. Lanny Asepermy, who is Comanche and Kiowa, said after the Comanches surrendered to the U.S. in 1875, the tribe\u2019s warrior tradition was hurt. Then some Comanches joined World War I.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe became warriors again,\u201d Asepermy said. He grew up seeing photos of relatives in the military at his grandparents\u2019 home. \u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to be a soldier. I didn\u2019t want to be anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019d fight a year in Vietnam. Before he left, his grandmother prayed over him in the Kiowa language and placed medicine on him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA couple of times in Vietnam, I could have gotten killed. Was it luck?\u201d Asepermy said. \u201cI think it was because of the prayers my grandmother gave me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The one-hour documentary co-produced by WNED-TV Buffalo Toronto and Florentine Films\/Hott Productions, Inc., is scheduled to air Monday on most PBS stations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>service transformed the lives of troops from various tribes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":91774,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1167,28,1107,337],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-91773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-exclude-homepage-video","tag-headlines","tag-movies","tag-television"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91773"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=91773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}