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For more than a decade on June 21, Maine has celebrated Native American Veterans Day. As noted in state law, this day is observed “in remembrance of the courage and dedicated service of Native American members of the United States Armed Forces.”
Perhaps the most recognizable of those courageous Wabanaki veterans is Charles Norman Shay, the Penobscot Nation elder who saved fellow soldiers on D-Day and continues to inspire as he turned 100 on Thursday.
Shay, who served as an Army combat medic in both World War II and the Korean War, is a venerated (and deservingly so) example of the service and sacrifice that Native veterans have given to the U.S. throughout the country’s existence. He lived the horrors and heroism of Omaha Beach during the Normandy invasion and has spent much of his later life working to recognize and remember others who have served.
“I guess I was prepared to give my life if I had to. Fortunately, I did not have to,” Shay, who now lives in France, said in a recent interview with the Associated Press.
A recent edition of Maine Public’s “Maine Calling” program focused on Shay. As Wabanaki Alliance Executive Director John Dieffenbacher-Krall said on that program, Shay is “such a hero” and “such a giant in all that he has done.” Dieffenbacher-Krall also stressed that other Wabanaki veterans “may not have gotten as much acclaim as Charles Shay, but their sacrifices, nonetheless, were as significant.”
Harald Prins, who co-wrote a book about Shay, also emphasized those other veterans during the radio show.
“The role of American Indians and Canadian Indians in the invasion has been such that we have forgotten that it was not just Charles who went through it, but also Melvin Neptune,” Prins said. “Melvin Neptune, also from Indian Island, who had a brother fighting in the Pacific, but he landed about 12 hours after Charles and got the Bronze Star for heroism that night taking out a machine gun nest. That story we hope to tell through Charles’ story as well.”
The Wabanaki Alliance also featured several Wabanaki veterans in a moving series on social media leading up to Native American Veterans Day: Frank Tomah of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Motahkomikuk who served in the Korean War and has helped preserve the Passamaquoddy language; Andrew Phillips Sr. of the Mi’kmaq Nation who served in the Army during the Vietnam War and was stationed in Germany; Adjutant Gen. Diane Dunn who leads the Maine National Guard and is of Penobscot descent; Randy Allen Silliboy of the Mi’kmaq Nation who spent 23 years in the Air Force; Lt. Col. Hilda Lewis of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik who was a nurse in the Air Force for more than 20 years which included “taking care of patients returning from the front lines” during Vietnam, according to the Alliance’s series of posts. These are just some examples of the many Wabanaki veterans who have stepped up to serve generation after generation.
Also on the “Maine Calling” segment, Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis called in to share his experiences with Shay, noting that “his goal and objective was always to bring attention to all veterans” including by advocating for the creation of Native American Veterans Day back in 2009. Dieffenbacher-Krall also credited then-Passamaquoddy Tribal Representative Donald Soctomah for his work to secure that annual state recognition.
Together with Donna Loring, Soctomah co-wrote a recent column in the Bangor Daily News about Wabanaki veterans as part of the Wabanaki Voices effort with the Alliance. Loring, a former Penobscot Nation tribal ambassador, served in the Women’s Army Corp as a communications specialist in Vietnam. Soctomah serves as the tribal historic preservation officer for the Passamaquoddy Tribe.
“We fought to protect our land, our freedom, and our way of life and yes, we even fought to protect this country because what happens to the country happens to us only that much worse,” Loring and Soctomah wrote about Wabanaki veterans, who have served this country consistently dating back to the Revolutionary War.
The column and the “Maine Calling” program both included discussion about the ways that Wabanki veterans were nevertheless failed by the country they fought for, including the way that veterans like Shay returned from past wars unable to vote in the American democracy they had defended abroad. This was courage and service in defense of a country that didn’t serve them, as movingly articulated recently by Amara Francis, a 16-year-old student at Old Town High School.
Francis, who like Shay is from the Penobscot Nation, was part of a recent school trip to France where students toured the Charles Shay Indian Memorial and had dinner with Shay.
“There were tribes that sent people away not knowing whether they would return,” Francis said in a recent BDN story. “People were out there fighting for a country that didn’t recognize them yet, but they were willing to do whatever it took to clear that beach.”
This remarkable service echoes throughout U.S. military history. So too do the many ways that the federal and state government have failed tribal citizens. This duality should inform not just our understanding of history, but the work that remains today to better recognize, respect and support Tribal Nations in Maine and across the country.
