Native American Military Contributions
With a Focus on the Vietnam Era
By Cameron Mahlum

Alan Caldwell
Vietnam Veteran (Menominee)

Interview of Alan J. Caldwell by Cameron Mahlum at College of Menominee Nation, Keshena, Wisconsin, August 2000, for the America’s First Nations NEH Institute. Transcribed by Wesley Zolecki and Julie Massey and edited by Mark G. Thiel, Marquette University, March 2001. Editorial notations include series of three dots … to indicate deleted words, [brackets] to indicate added words, and hyperlinks for explanatory notes.

Alan Caldwell is Dean of Student Services, College of Menominee Nation; Director, Menominee Culture Institute; and a former Indian education specialist, Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, as well as an U. S. Army veteran who served in Vietnam.

The Menominee people are indigenous to Northeastern Wisconsin and reside in Menominee County, a county whose population is 88% Indian. Their community is unique in that it is both the federally recognized Menominee Reservation and a Wisconsin county. The two entities have the same boundaries and population and based on percentage, Menominee County is the third most-Indian population of any county in the United States.

CM [Cameron Mahlum]: This is an interview with Alan Caldwell. Alan is a member of the Menominee Nation. "Alan, what is your tribal name?"

AC [Alan Caldwell]: My immediate name is "Ouwasa," which means "Bear Man." I am a Menominee. I also have a tribal affiliation with the White Earth and Mille Lacs Ojibwa of Minnesota and through marriage my wife’s connections with the Stockbridge-Musee tribe.

CM: OK, you served … during the Vietnam era and you are a veteran. What branch of the military were you in?

AC: I was in the U. S. Army. I was trained in field artillery, but spent most of my career … in the General Corps as a Personal Records Specialist. Basically I took care of officer and senior enlisted officer’s records.

CM: Did you volunteer or were you drafted?

AC: I was drafted, career spent in the Army.

CM: Was that a … One of the other things I was going to ask you is of the Menominee. How many did fight during the Vietnam era?

AC: Oh boy. My unofficial count, over 127 Menominee that are Vietnam combat veterans. That does not include the four Menominee that were killed over there in Vietnam.

CM: You said that you in fact were drafted. Was that … How old were you when you were drafted?

AC: I was drafted when I was 21-- 21 years old. …

CM: Could you explain the strong family military traditions among Native Americans?

AC: … There is a strong cultural component dealing with the warrior societies in a number of tribes, and that exists here in Menominee as well. The warriors, as I see them, … are the providers and the protectors of the community. To be a member of the warrior society, you basically have the earn[ed] right to be a member of that group. …

[Also,] within the Menominee community, we have five major clans [or formal groupings relating to ancestral family lines with certain responsibilities. Among them] there is the Eagle Clan [whose members become] the governmental leaders; the Crane Clan [whose members] are the architects; … the Bear Clan and there were the warrior societies. … [These two] have the responsibility of protecting the community. … In some of the other clans, there were elements there of other groups who were warriors, the protectors [as well].

Although things have changed over the generations, I still see in our community here that there are women who served in the military. I think it is something that’s been so deeply engrained in our culture, and even into our psyche of that warrior tradition. … I would say the vast majority of the men and the women that served … are actually volunteers. … Its part of fulfilling that expectation in the community. That … part of our community are the warriors that … fulfill that responsibility. And … much like other tribal communities, … we have gone about that, with different ceremonies … and things of [that] sort. …

[In] any war there has been in any tribal community, the men and women that served in the military, the warriors-- are held in high regard. They’re all highly respected. … Menominee County, Menominee Reservation, [has] the highest percent [of veterans] of any county in the state of Wisconsin. I think um, every year in our community we have the gathering, the warriors’ powwow-- which is put on by our Veterans in the Menominee Nation, which is a group of about thirty of us, that are World War II, Korean War, Vietnam, Desert Storm, and peace–time vets. … We do this, in part … because we want to share our culture with others. … Also we want to honor those men and women, from our own community and other communities, and not just Indian community, Menominee communities. [We want to honor] the white community, the black community, the Asian community, those men and women who served because we feel that we have all shared a common experience. …

What I always find is that amongst the men and women, who served in the military, there is … camaraderie there based upon an experience that we have all shared by being in the military. … I think that some of that fits in somewhat within our culture-- that … sense of when you’re in the military, its teamwork. … That if this person over here does that, its going to impact on this person, and on down the line. And so … their … part of that is based on that survival instinct. …

So I think in our communities amongst the Indian people that we try to carry on that. And that is part of that overall effort to maintain our traditions, maintain our culture and our language. …

Our veterans’ promo, for example-- each year we honor and recognize a different group of individuals from our community. … In our community over the past few years, we have honored the women veterans. This past June we honored all veterans 55 and older. We honored the Vietnam, World War II, and Korean War veterans. Last year we honored company K, which was an all-Menominee volunteer unit back in the Civil War when the State of Wisconsin was asked to raise an army for the Union. … Company K was the last unit … raised which was an all-Menominee volunteer unit.

CM: You said … you included non-Indians in your ceremonies. … With the Vietnam era, we have a lot of politics and a lot of veterans were not welcomed back. They were held responsible … somehow. … You didn’t have the tickertape parades of … World War I or World War II. … How do you think that has helped Indians … [and] non-Indians?

AC: I think for some of them, and its happened, for example, in the last couple of years, we have had some people come who were Vietnam vets and combat vets that came to our powwow. … One of the things that they all commented on is how, in our tribal community, how the veterans from here were respected for what they did. [The veterans] were honored for what they did, and the ceremonies including the dances and some of the other honoring [ceremonies], the giveaways, of the special dances that were done to recognize those men and women. … That includes all men and women [veterans in attendance], not just the Menominee. …

… A lot of them commented how, especially amongst the non-Indians, how that never happened in their community, [as] there … was no special recognition that … [their non-Indian community] would give them. … I think that you kind of alluded to it in your question. … That in some instances they were made to feel ashamed and guilty for what they did. But in our community, I think in our tribal communities, … when men and women went to war, went into battle, there was always that possibility that they would not come back. And those that did come back, I think in some ways … there is the belief --the feeling, that the Creator-- the Spirits, sent them back for a reason. Part of that reason was that … they were to relate what they saw, what they learned, what they heard, what they experienced. … Part of that was … so … that information could be shared with the coming generations.

CM: And hence probably that the tradition, the family tradition, were their ceremonies… all held prior to [departing for military service]?

AC: In some families there were. … They would … [have] sweat lodge or some other ceremonies that the family, depending on what religion they belonged to, or traditional Indian religion or whatever. … They went through some ceremonies … where they asked the Creator and Spirits to take care of their son or daughter, and look after them, protect them.

In some instances when they came back… some of them really suffered extensive[ly]-- pretty horrific things and definitely that is going to effect you physiologically and emotionally, mentally, [and] physically. … Some of those men and women, … I know … [are] still … suffering from… post-dramatic stress syndrome. And through some of those ceremonies and even participating in this pow-wow, to let them know that there are people in this community [who] recognize what they did, and what they did was-- as I said, was a horrific experience. Um, when you see death and you see all of these kinds of things … one of the ways to look, to clear that out of the person’s mind is going through these various ceremonies where you ask for forgiveness if you killed someone in battle. You ask for that forgiveness, you ask the Creator and the Spirits. You ask the Spirit of that person whose life you took, and that family who that person may have belonged to. [You] ask them for their forgiveness and understanding that serves as an explanation of why you did what you did.

CM: A lot of people would find it ironic that a, you said that the vast majority of the Menominee that you know and basically other nations, First Nations, throughout our country, volunteered at an incredibly high rate. At least … I have heard that World War I was 100% volunteer. I mean the term draft-dodger, in Native American [discourse] is basically non-existent. … So why do Native people stand up and fight especially like in the Vietnam era? There is a story I want you to share with us. …

AC: I think part of it … goes back to those cultural traditions. What I call the warrior ethic that … is within our culture. That, as I said, the warriors were the protectors and the [providers?] of the community. … I think … there are a number of other reasons, and probably every vet you can talk to will give you a different reason. But it could be anything, for some of us it was the sense of adventure. Some it was because of those traditions or parts of culture. Others it was maybe a family obligation. For some it was maybe, it was for economic reasons. I mean when you come from a family of fourteen [and if] mom and dad aren’t working, it’s a way to help the family out. … Mom and dad [have] one less mouth to feed and cloth and when you’re in the military obviously you get paid for it and then it. ...

CM: Don’t get rich!

AC: True, but the chance to help the family out and maybe send some of that money home to help mom and dad out. Uh, for others it’s because maybe, [they] might have been peer pressured. [They] got some buddies that decided to join the Marines or the Army. [They] seem to be the two bigger branches that a lot of them join. … There is a chance to do what your buddies are doing. Uh, so it could be any number of reasons why. I think that within our own communities it has to do more with those traditions and those family obligations because, a lot for your native families do come from a warrior background.

CM: Did you touch on any of the stereotypes that um, upon entrance into the, not just the society but we are going to focus on military experience here, whether it was through your initial training or on your mission over seas?

AC: Well, not that there is a stereotype, that I think a lot of us talk about out our military experience. Obviously, if you are the only Indian in your unit, … you were given the title of "chief," which I was called quite often. … A lot of fellows from our community were [in] combat … in Vietnam. [They] went through that. … They were point men in their own Marine recognizance patrols, infantry patrols, and … they were officers in charge of the unit. ...

CM: Tell us what the point man does.

AC: The point man is when you went into battle. There has got to be one man out in front who is the one that is kind of the watchdog for the unit. He is the one that goes out in front and always alone. He is the one that if they engage the enemy, he is usually the first [one] that makes contact. …

But there is always that stereotype that we’re stealthy. That we {Indians] know the terrain and we are able to know our way around in the woods and in the dark when it’s pitch black. … That we can see in the dark, that we can hear all these sounds that nobody else hears, and all that kind of stuff. That we’re good-shots, that we are sharpshooters.

[All] of us are sharp shooters, which I never got actually when I was in the military. I never got to be a sharpshooter. I just got to the rank of marksman. But … things like that, it’s those stereotypes that we have. That all Indians are like that. But unfortunately it’s not [true].

CM: I read on one individual who did fight in Vietnam. He said, "[It] was laughable on the stereotypes. But you couldn’t really expand on that because [of] the situation." He was a point man, "But you know you laugh about it." He made reference to Indian humor, which unfortunately, is a whole, other subject that a lot of people don’t realize because they’re traveling media is the straight face serious and obviously you have a sense of humor. … So he said, "You had to turn it [humor] off when you realized what your duty was."

AC: Right

CM: But …

AC & CM: [Inaudible discussion.]

AC: A lot of those people that I know, [who] were thrust into those positions, it was because, like I said-- that point man. You are up there in the lead. You are up there by yourself. You stay ahead of the rest of the group and … you’re on your own to go search and destroy, looking for the enemy. You’re over there by yourself. … It is a matter of survival. You know if you don’t watch what you are doing, [if] you don’t use all of the things you have been taught and you were trained to do-- your instincts and things of that sort. … It is a matter of life or death.

CM: Could you touch on the proportional representation of Native Americans in traditional warfare in the U. S. military?

AC: Ok. Well it’s probably best to explain it by, by using our own community. … Back in the sixties and early seventies, during the Vietnam War, our population here on the reservation was around 3,600. … As I said, there [were] 127 Menominees that I know of [who] served in Vietnam. That does not include the four [who] were killed.

But you go back to the Korean War, … at that time, the population on the reservation was maybe closer to 3,000 or less. … There were 147 Menominees--- men and women [who] served in Korea. Most of them were combat vets. …

[There] were 158 Menominees [who] served in World War II. …

In the Veterans of the Menominee Nation [organization], one of the flags that we carry with our color guard, it’s a yellow flag with a purple number 101 on it. It honors those who served in the Desert Storm. …

I think those high percentages … [are] pretty common in … tribes across this whole country. … [The] large numbers … you pointed out earlier, [in] most instances they volunteered. Then it goes back to what I was talking about before, about the sense of obligation coming out of that warrior tradition that exists in many tribal communities.

Just as a little side note, on that with the Menominee. Back in the Philippine Civil War … there was one Menominee that served in the Philippine army. I don’t know [his] name or anything like that. …

The Menominee, we even have the distinction of being one of the tribes, maybe the only tribe, that ever defeated two future U. S. presidents in military battle. In the French and Indian War, Menominees fought on the side of the French. We defeated George Washington in military battle. Back in 1800s we defeated [Zachary] Taylor when they were having the campaign down in Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois, that area. … And it’s been told to me that Menominees traveled as far as Philadelphia, Mississippi and engaged in warfare with the military. So we have had a long history of that here, in Menominee … military participation.

CM: You are the current director of the program … called "Veterans’ Upward Bound ." Can you expand on that and kind of explain what the program does and how it works?

AC: Veterans’ Upward Bound is a program … funded by the U. S. Department of Education. It came into being shortly after World War II and … Korea. ... What the program does is prepare veterans who have served in the military and … discharged from military service, to help them get into … post-secondary education. ... So basically … Veterans Upward Bound is a pre-college program for veterans to get their skills up-- reading, math, computers, [and] writing … so they can take on a regular college [or] university education program. …

Here … we service an eight-county region of Northeast Wisconsin, including six tribal communities. … We have to service [at least] 120, a minimum of 120 veterans a year. Half of the veterans … we serve have to be Indian veterans. …

[Presently] in our … communities … [and in the larger society there is a transition from an industrial to an informational age. We have a] large number of veterans … and we need to re-train our work force. … In all of our tribal communities there is a lack of industry and… employment opportunities, but as we get into this high tech stuff … there is the need for a workforce that has the skills. … So part of … what we are doing … is helping those veterans… that have maybe worked in the industrial complex, … are not old, … are looking for work, and need to be trained. That training and those skills that they need so they can continue to be accredited and employable.

CM: OK. This last question, … if you could have something in a textbook [for] schools, about Native American military contributions, what would you add?

AC: I think … in terms of … American Indians serving in the military, is that we are part of this country. … This is, originally, our land. This was originally our country. … We will defend it regardless of whether we still own some of the land that we live on. … We are part [of] the United States and the only thing I would ask people to do is, know that we will continue. We have done that [and] we will continue to do that. …

All we ask, I think-- all the veterans, have been asking over these past couple years, that we celebrate these different anniversaries-- of World War II, Vietnam, Korea ... [The] thing is that just like … [all other] vet[s], that we be given that proper recognition-- that honor, and part of that dignity. Because I think, … a lot of us will say-- … look at … some of the things … these men and women went through. Its, uh, pretty horrific. So what we are asking for is just to be respected for what we did. …

I know, sometimes I get frustrated when I see different events going on, athletic events and [so forth]. … You hear the Pledge of Allegiance or you sing the Star Spangled Banner and people… don’t or won’t stand up… To me, that’s important because we are recognizing and honor those that served … [and] as far as American Indians, that … we served honorably-- we served proudly, and that is what we are asking for. … To [be] acknowledge[d] that we were there. …

CM: And some of things you’ve clearly touched [upon] … were not in the history books. Contributions going way back, and the percentage of fighting. …

AC: … Just recently the movie "Patriot"… came out. If you watched that movie, [you saw] how Europeans conducted their wars back [in the Eighteenth Century]. They had these big long lines of men that nudged up to each other and shot each other [in the open at close range]. The first line would fall down. The second line would come up. They would shoot each other.

To me, at least in military terms, I think that is pretty dumb. Any man back in those days… I think if he got shot, maybe he deserved to have it. If he was foolish enough to [be] marching up where you can, you know, "see the whites of their eyes" and shoot each other. …

The movie even looked at the [ambush] tactics that were used by… the South Carolina militia… What kids need to do is look at where did they learn those tactics. Who did they learn them from? …

[At] West Point, [the United States Army Military Academy] they teach … about how to conduct warfare, [including] guerilla warfare. ... They … [study] … battles … between the U.S. Calvary and Indian tribes-- … on the Plains … [against] the Dakotas and Lakota, … in the French and Indian War, and the Revolutionary War, [including] the Indian folks [who] were involved in those, and how the Indians conducted that warfare. … They teach … officers … how to conduct and wage … guerilla warfare, and that comes from the Indian folks. ...

[In guerilla warfare,] you use the [natural cover from the] environment … [as opposed to in] the "Patriot" … [with] two [opposing] lines … shoot[ing] at each other, … until … it is all over and done with. So, … maybe … people … want to study more about how the U. S. military does … training … [and] where they got those ideas.

One last one … I want to share is a story that has been told several times. … [But] I never really asked either of the individuals if it was true. … [It is] about two Menominees … serving in Vietnam, in combat. They were stationed about twelve kilometers from each other, in different Marine fire bases. …

One … was sent out with … his platoon to do some setups of ambushes … to prepare them for the VC [Vietcong guerillas] and so forth. … He was out there. He was wearing his high school class ring. … during the Monsoon season. … In one of those nights when they were setting up ambushes in the mud and stuff … he … lost his ring.

It just so happens that … a few months later, this other Menominee fellow in the neighboring fire base, … his platoon was … set out in the same area to do the same thing. … They were setting up their ambushes in that same area and … [as] the second Menominee [was] setting up … he saw the moon was out and he could see something shining in the mud. But since they were setting up an ambush he couldn’t move. He didn’t want to move and give away his position. So he sat there all night. He kept looking at that, whatever it was … shinning in the mud. So as soon as it turned daylight [and] he could move again, he took out his knife, … dug in the mud, and he found that ring.

So he gets back to camp. … A couple weeks later he … [got] a ride to the … camp … [of the] other Menominee fellow, the one that lost his ring. … [He] said, "Hey, Did you lose something?"

And the first Menominee said, "Yeah, a couple of months ago we were out in this area doing patrols and I lost my ring."

And the other Menominee reached in his pocket and says, " Here!" And gave it to him, 10,000 miles away from home.

CM: And what high school was that? Do you know?

AC: Shawano High School.

CM: Shawano High School.

AC: Unfortunately the fellow that found it passed on a few years back, and the other fellow I used play baseball with years ago. But I never asked him about confirming that story. I just figured we would leave it as is.

Menominees … were in Vietnam back in [19-] ‘58, ‘59, ‘60, up through ’63. There were a few Menominees … [then who] were in Vietnam as military advisers. We had Menominees in Vietnam before most of us ever heard of the place.

CM: Do you have anything else?

AC: No, I guess that’s it.

CM: Ok. Thank you.

Menominee: An Algonkian-speaking people who lived along the Menominee River, now part of the boundary between Wisconsin and Michigan. There, living in villages, they sustained themselves by gathering wild rice, growing corn (maize), fishing, and hunting. After a series of treaties, the United States government moved the 2,000-member tribe to the reservation in 1854. Since 1872, the tribally owned lumber mill provided jobs and the foundation for the local economy, which was severely disrupted when reservation status was temporarily terminated from 1961-1973. Return to Previous Text

Civil War: The Menominee Council pledged its allegiance to the north in 1862, less than 50 years after Menominees had vigorously opposed the United States in the War of 1812. 120 Menominee warriors enlisted and about one-third were killed during the Civil War and the all-Menominee Company K (37th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry) distinguished itself and sustained heavy casualties during the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia, on July 30, 1864. Return to Previous Text

Sweat lodge: Ceremonies for spiritual and physical purification involving songs and prayers in small sauna-like huts. Comparable ceremonies are apart of Native cultures throughout North America and in English, these ceremonies are often called sweat lodge ceremonies. Return to Previous Text

World War II: Over 200 Menominee men volunteered for service by the end of 1943. Many others worked in shipyards and war plants from Lake Superior to Chicago and Detroit. To keep the tribal saw mill operating on the reservation, 50 Menominee women worked in the mill and others helped eradicate the tree disease blister rust from the forest. Return to Previous Text

Philippine Civil War: The United States subdued a local independence movement or civil war in the Philippines from 1898-1906 and then prepared that country for political and economic independence in 1946. The Philippines is a nation off the southeastern coast of Asia, which was acquired by the United States from Spain in the Spanish-American War of 1898. American Indian men served in these conflicts both in the Philippines and in Cuba as well as American Indian women also served in the military during the Spanish American War. Return to Previous Text

George Washington (1732-1799), First president of the United States: In 1755 during the French and Indian War Washington learned an important lesson from America’s First Nations warriors allied to the French (including Menominees). By using guerilla warfare tactics, they ambushed and bloodily defeated the British at Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), demonstrating to young Washington that the "invincible" British could be defeated. Return to Previous Text

Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), 12th president of the United States: In 1814 during the War of 1812, the pro-British local militia captured Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin a strategic Mississippi River fort. To protect St. Louis, troops under Taylor trekked north to retake it, but British artillery and over 1,000 First Nation warriors (including Menominees) forced their retreat at Rock Island, Illinois. Return to Previous Text

Philadelphia, Mississippi: During the War of 1812 some Menominee warriors may have traveled to this area of East-central Mississippi as allies of the local Choctaws and Creeks. Philadelphia, Mississippi is the site of a former Indian community, which was settled by non-Indians after 1830. Return to Previous Text

Veterans’ Upward Bound: For more information, see College of Menominee Nation, then scroll down the list under Resources. Return to Previous Text