Strong Hearts Wounded Souls

“An all-encompassing study . . . Holm shows the interconnecting historical, social and psychological attributes of Native American veterans.” —Historynet.com At least 43,000 Native Americans fought in the Vietnam War, yet both the American public and the United States government have been slow to acknowledge their presence and sacrifices in that conflict. In this first-of-its-kind study, Tom Holm draws on extensive interviews with Native American veterans to tell the story of their experiences in Vietnam and their readjustment to civilian life. Holm describes how Native American motives for going to war, experiences of combat, and readjustment to civilian ways differ from those of other ethnic groups. He explores Native American traditions of warfare and the role of the warrior to explain why many young Indigenous men chose to fight in Vietnam. He shows how Native Americans drew on tribal customs and religion to sustain them during combat. And he describes the rituals and ceremonies practiced by families and tribes to help heal veterans of the trauma of war and return them to the “white path of peace.” This information, largely unknown outside the Native American community, adds important new perspectives to our national memory of the Vietnam war and its aftermath. “An overview of one kind of serviceman about which nothing substantive has been written: the Native American . . . A fascinating introduction to the role of military traditions and the warrior ethic in mid-20th-century [Native American] life.” —Library Journal

Explores how American Indian businesses and organizations are taking on images that were designed to oppress them. How and why do American Indians appropriate images of Indians for their own purposes? How do these representatives promote and sometimes challenge sovereignty for indigenous people locally and nationally? American Indians have recently taken on a new relationship with the hegemonic culture designed to oppress them. Rather than protesting it, they are earmarking images from it and using them for their own ends. This provocative book adds an interesting twist and nuance to our understanding of the five-hundred year interchange between American Indians and others. A host of examples of how American Indians use the so-called “White Man’s Indian” reveal the key images and issues selected most frequently by the representatives of Native organizations or Native-owned businesses in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries to appropriate Indianness.

Rare stories from more than 250 years of Native Americans' service in the military Why We Serve commemorates the 2020 opening of the National Native American Veterans Memorial at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, the first landmark in Washington, DC, to recognize the bravery and sacrifice of Native veterans. American Indians' history of military service dates to colonial times, and today, they serve at one of the highest rates of any ethnic group. Why We Serve explores the range of reasons why, from love of their home to an expression of their warrior traditions. The book brings fascinating history to life with historical photographs, sketches, paintings, and maps. Incredible contributions from important voices in the field offer a complex examination of the history of Native American service. Why We Serve celebrates the unsung legacy of Native military service and what it means to their community and country.

This book provides a fresh approach to understanding the American combat soldier's experience in Vietnam. It integrates such topics as the political culture, the experiences of training, the actual Vietnam experience, and the 'homecoming', and offers a remarkable overview of the 870,000 'grunts' who bore the brunt of the fighting in the jungles and highlands of South Vietnam, and eventually Cambodia and Laos.The book addresses many of the stereotypes of the Vietnam combat veteran that have been perpertrated in popular culture, and also considers how Vietnam veterans have been commemorated through memorials and other means, and how the veterans remember each other. The coverage also includes women who served in or near the front lines as well as on the home front. The author draws on memoirs and oral histories including his personal interviews with veterans, but the book conveys a picture of the Vietnam combat soldier's experience far more powerful than what individual memoirs can provide.

The effects of the War outside present-day Vietnam are ongoing. Substantial Vietnamese communities in countries that participated in the conflict are contributing to renewed interpretations of it. This collection of new essays explores changes in perceptions of the war and the Vietnamese diaspora, examining history, politics, biography and literature, with Vietnamese, American, Australian and French scholars providing new insights. Twelve essays cover South Vietnamese leadership and policies, women and civilians, veterans overseas, smaller allies in the war (Australia), accounts by U.S., Australian and South Vietnamese servicemen as well as those of Indigenous soldiers from the U.S. and Australia, memorials and commemorations, and the legacy of war on individual lives and government policy.

Traces how Native Americans have defined, both domestically and internationally, democracy, citizenship, and patriotism, covering the activist struggle on reservations, during wartime, and in the courtroom to preserve the diverse culture of American Indians and assert an ethnic nationalism across the country.

The end of military heroism? The American Legion and "service" between the Wars / George Lewis -- GI Joe Nisei: The invention of World War II's iconic Japanese American soldier / Ellen D. Wu -- Instrument of subjugation or avenue for liberation? Black military heroism from World War II to the Vietnam War / Simon Wendt -- "Warriors in uniform": Race, masculinity, and martial valor among native American veterans from the Great War to Vietnam and beyond / Matthias Voigt -- My Lai: The crisis of American military heroism in the Vetnam War / Steve Estes -- Leonard Matlovich: From military hero to gay rights poster boy / Simon Hall -- Displaying heroism: Media images of the weary soldier in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War / Amy Lucker -- "From louboutins to combat boots"? The negotiation of a twenty-first-century female warrior image in American popular culture and literature / Sarah Makeschin -- From warrior to soldier? Lakota veterans on military valor / Sonja John -- Virtual warfare: Video games, drones, and the reimagination of heroic -- Masculinity / Carrie Andersen

Remnants of a Shattered Past presents a revolutionary view of the causes behind the challenges many Native Americans face today as a result of historical trauma. The story of the Native American people is told in two ways in this creative non-fiction literary work. Brunners retelling of the Native American history by her protagonists, Eagle and Coyote, reads as a well-written oral transcript. They travel through time to bring to life what it was like for the Native American people throughout history. In the non-fiction portion of the book the author presents an understanding of the traditional period for the Ojibwe people, the ramifications of power and control through patriarchal domination and the Church, the realization of Manifest Destiny, the outcomes of historical trauma, and proactive ways in which Native Americans and others can make positive changes to enhance their overall well-being.