Do Indians serve in the Armed Forces?
Yes. Indians have the same obligations for military service as other U.S. citizens. They have fought in all American wars since the Revolution. In the Civil War, they served on both sides. Eli S. Parker, Seneca from New York, was at Appomattox as aide to Gen. Ulysses S. Grant when Lee surrendered, and the unit of Confederate Brigadier General Stand Watie (Cherokee) was the last to surrender. It was not until World War I that Indians’ demonstrated patriotism (6,000 of the more than 8,000 who served were volunteers) moved Congress to pass the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. In World War II, 25,000 Indian men and women, mainly enlisted Army personnel, fought on all fronts in Europe and Asia, winning (according to an incomplete count) 71 Air Medals, 51 Silver Stars, 47 Bronze Stars, 34 Distinguished Flying Crosses, and two Congressional Medals of Honor. The most famous Indian exploit of World War II was the use by Navajo Marines of their language as a battlefield code, the only such code w
