Creek Indians in WW II

In the Government Documents Dept. of the Florida State University Libraries (Tallahassee, FL), there is a run of Indians at Work, a periodical which was published by the U. S. Office of Indian Affairs [SuDoc no. I20.22:]. The library's holdings (which are not quite complete) start with January 1942 and extend to May-June 1945. There is also a copy of a pamphlet, Indians in the War which was published in November 1945 by the same agency [SuDoc no. I20.5: In2/14]. I was going to list these two titles in the Creek Indian Bibliography, but since many people would not have easy access to these items, I have decided to list all mentions of individuals identified as Creek here on this page.

ADDENDA (Oct. 1998) Some time after I created this page, I found an article "Uncle Sam's Warriors: American Indians in World War II" by Duane K. Hale, Chronicles of Oklahoma, v. 69 (1991/92), pp.408-429. Hale used the same periodical, Indians at Work, very heavily and appended to the main text of his article a list "Oklahoma Indians in World War II." His list included one name which I did not have from an issue not in the FSU Libraries. I have added it below and another mention of Creeks from a missing issue, in both cases with a citation to Hale.

This entire issue of the Chronicles, v. 69, no. 4, (Winter 1992) is devoted to World War II. One article is about the early history of the 45th Infantry Division which is mentioned below. Further information on this outfit is available at the 45th Infantry Division Museum site.

A not quite complete file of Indians at Work is on the Smithsonian site at https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/indians-work. There is also a file at HathiTrust, https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000058924?type%5B%5D=all&lookfor%5B%5D=indians%20at%20work&ft=ft.

Go to: [Indians in the War] [Indians at Work]

"November 1945, United States Department of the Interior--Office of Indian Affairs, Chicago 54, Illinois. Haskell Printing Department, 2-15-46--15,000."

On the Table of Contents page (unnumbered): "The material in this pamphlet was collected for the 1945 Memorial Number of Indians at Work, before the magazine was discontinued because of the paper shortage. ...the photographs which accompany the lists were loaned by the families of the boys whose names will be found here. ... Awards of the Purple Heart have not been indicated here because every soldier wounded in action against the enemy is entitled to the decoration, and the award should be taken for granted."

p. 7. "Danny B. Marshall, Creek from Holdenville, Oklahoma, has evaded death dozens of times and has been wounded eight times. Five of his wounds required hospital treatment, but the other three times he had first aid and did not report at a hospital. He has been hit in the face, head, arms, leg, and back, and has the Purple Heart with four clusters, the Bronze Star, the Good Conduct medal, the Combat Infantryman's Badge, and five battle stars for service in Italy, including the Anzio beachhead and Rome, and the invasion of Southern France."

p. 9. [List of awards for valor]

Congressional Medal of Honor, Lt. Ernest Childers, Oklahoma.

Silver Star, Lt. James Sulphur, Oklahoma.

Air Medal, T/Sgt. Orus Baxter Jr., Oklahoma.

p. 10.

Bronze Star Medal, Pfc. Danny B. Marshall, Oklahoma.

[List by state, "We Honor These Dead"]

p. 21. Oklahoma.

James L. Douglas, Philippines.

Orus Baxter Jr., Germany.

James Sulpher [with photo], France.

Willie Scott, France.

Johnnie Buckner [with photo on p. 20], Pacific.

Lewis Mitchell, Atlantic.

[List by state: "Wounded in Action"]

p. 36. Oklahoma.

Solus B. Lewis, Europe.

Houston Palmer [with photo on p. 37], Anzio.

Tom Fixico [with photo], Sicily, Italy.

Joe Fixico [with photo on p. 37], France.

John B. Lowe, Anzio, France. [Photo on p. 40, "John Pershing Lowe"]

Jack Bruner, Italy.

Danny Marshall, France, Italy.

Munzie Barnett, Germany.

Sampson Harjo, France.

Martin Mitchell, Pacific.

William M. Beaver, France.

Daniel Phillips Jr., France.

p. 37.

Samuel Marshall, Europe.

Robert H. Colbert Jr., Europe.

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Since there are a few missing issues in this collection, I am listing all issues which I have in hand even if no Creeks are mentioned in a particular number. I hope to eventually find copies of the missing pieces.

January 1942 (Vol. 9, no. 5, but masthead date is vol. 10 in error.) No Creeks.

February 1942. "Euchee and Creek Indians of Oklahoma in a special assembly of the Inter-Tribal Council in Okmulgee voted to spend $400,000 for defense bonds." [From Hale, p. 413]

April 1942 (Vol. 9, no. 8.) p. 26. "The Okfuskee County Indian Red Cross unit had added $92 to the emergency war fund and claimed the distinction of being the most active group of Indians in the State. Chief Alex Noon of the Creek Tribe praised the county Indians for their "wholehearted efforts on the war programs." Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, The Oklahoman. 3/20/42.

May-June 1942. (Vol. 9, no. 9-10.) p. 28. "Laughing Eyes, a 29-year-old Creek Indian, in full tribal regalia, was among the first of more than 250 women who stormed army recruiting offices in New York to apply for enlistment in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. She said she was a graduate of Haskell Institute, Lawrence, Kansas, and her brother, Straight Arrow, had joined the Navy last month. St. Louis, Missouri. The Post Dispatch. 5-27-42. [Was somebody having fun with a journalist here? a.g.]

July-August-September 1942. (Vol. 10, no. 1.) p. 16. Reprint from Parade, the "Sunday picture supplement" September 20, 1942 of an article on an outfit in the 45th Division which contained Indians from more than 50 distinct tribes including Creeks.

p. 26. Article on blood donations at the Navy Hospital in Washington D.C. by a delegation of Indian Office employees including Vernon Canard, Creek.

No date. (Vol. 10, no. 2-6.) p. 8. Photo: "Sgt. Red Eagle, Creek, leads a combat squad of the 45th Division." (Photo by Parade)

p. 30. "For centuries the Creek Indian Nation has held a council every four years and elected its chief. This year an election took place but no powwow. The Creeks went to nearby tribal towns to cast their ballots. They valued their automobile tires too highly to use them for motoring to a council meeting. Reno Gazette. 10-20-42."

Spring 1943. (Vol. 10, no. 7-8.) No Creeks.

May-June 1943. (Vol. 11, no. 1.)

Inside front cover: "We Honor These Dead. Oklahoma. Philip Coon."

p. 3. Photo: In the Women's Second Army...Betty Porter [and others].

p. 21. [Quotes from a dispatch on April 8 by George Weller discussing the Australian-American campaign to recover Papua.] [...the attempt to charge the Japanese motor pool which lay on Sananada road just above "Huggins."] "Indians like John Bedder, of Wewoka, Oklahoma, a member of the Creek Tribe and a former truck driver, were indefatigable."

p. 27. Missing in Action. Merrill Bevenue, Phillipines.

p. 29. Prisoners of War. Ben Grayson, Japanese; William Sarty, Japanese.

p. 30. Wounded in Action. Ben Beaver, Guadalcanal.

July-August 1943. (Vol. 11, no. 2.)

p. 15. Three paragraph article with photo, "Earl Riley is Bacone's First President of Indian Blood."

September-October 1943. (Vol. 11, no. 3.)

p. 33. Paragraph quoted from Post Dispatch, St. Louis, Mo. July 4, 1943 on work of Private Acee Blue Eagle in Soldiers' Art Show "held recently" at Jefferson Barracks, Basic Training Center No. 1 of the Army Air Forces Technical Training Command.

November-December 1943. (Vol. 11, no. 4.)

p. 31. Another article on the 45th Division mentions seven officers commissioned since going into the war zone including James Sulphur.

January-February 1944. (Vol. 11, no. 5.) No Creeks.

March-April 1944. (Vol. 11, no. 6.) No Creeks.

May-June 1944. (Vol. 12, no. 1.)

Facing p. 1. Photo, Lt. Ernest Childers, Congressional Medal of Honor. On p. 4-5 there is an article (with another photo) on Lt. Childers.

[NOTE: Another photo of Lt. Childers are at the "Home of Heroes" site. The full text of his Medal of Honor citation can be found on this U. S. Army site. (Use the "Find" feature on your browser to go straight to Childers on the page.)]

p. 17. Prisoners of War. Oklahoma. Cornelius Gregory, Interned.

July-August 1944. (Vol. 12, no. 2.) No Creeks.

September-October 1944. (Vol. 12, no. 3.)

p. 22. Wounded in Action. Oklahoma. Robert Billings [no place given]; Freeland Douglas, Italy.

p. 23. Prisoners of War. Merrill Bevenue, Japan. Missing in Action. Kelley Moore [no place given.]

p. 24. Awards for Valor. Purple Heart. Sgt. Mose Harjo, Oklahoma.

Inside back cover. "We Honor These Dead." Oklahoma. Wilson Odom, Midway Island; Woodrow Cook, European; Thomas Cornell, plane crash.

November-December 1944. (Vol. 12, no. 4.) No Creeks.

January-February 1945. (Vol. 12, no. 5.) No Creeks.

March-April 1945. Not published due to paper shortage.

May-June 1945. (Vol. 13, no. 1.) No Creeks.

November 1945. Lt. John Cook awarded Air Medal. [Citation from article by Hale]

Page last revised 8 Nov 2020.

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