Posts Tagged ‘Clarence Wolf Guts’

23
Jun

Nation’s last Oglala Lakota code talker is laid to rest

   Posted by: admin    in Code Talkers, Native veterans, Oglala Lakota, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Rosebud Indian Reservation

An automobile decorated to honor Clarence Wolf Guts drives into the Black Hills National Cemetery on Tuesday. (Ryan Soderlin/Rapid City Journal)

An automobile decorated to honor Clarence Wolf Guts drives into the Black Hills National Cemetery on Tuesday. (Ryan Soderlin/Rapid City Journal)

A procession of 30 vehicles accompanied 86-year-old World War II veteran Clarence Wolf Guts to the Black Hills National Cemetery in Sturgis, S.D., here the last Oglala Lakota code talker in the nation was buried.

“I knew he was an important man to people because of his activities in the Army, but I didn’t know this many people had so much respect for him,” said Don Doyle, Wolf Guts’ only son. “I’m very proud of him, and I’m very grateful to them coming all the way here to pay respects to my father.”

Tyler Jerke of the Rapid City, S.D., Journal described yesterday’s ceremonies, a blend of traditional Lakota and military pomp, here:

    The casket of Clarence Wolf Guts is carried into the Committal Shelter during services at the Black Hills National Cemetery on Tuesday, June 22, 2010. Wolf Guts was the last living Oglala Lakota code talker. (Ryan Soderlin/Rapid City Journal)

    The casket of Clarence Wolf Guts is carried into the Committal Shelter during services at the Black Hills National Cemetery on Tuesday, June 22, 2010. Wolf Guts was the last living Oglala Lakota code talker. (Ryan Soderlin/Rapid City Journal)

    A line of American flags held by Patriot Guard Riders, volunteer veterans from North and South Dakota, waved above Wolf Guts’ casket as it entered the rotunda followed by his family. The sound of a bugle echoed throughout the cemetery as taps was played by a member of The Retired Enlisted Association of Rapid City.

    Gov. Mike Rounds had asked that flags in the state be flown at half-staff Tuesday to honor Wolf Guts. Wolf Guts was one of 11 Lakota, Nakota and Dakota code talkers from South Dakota who aided the war effort by transmitting communications in their native language, which the Germans and the Japanese could not translate.

Oglala Sioux Tribe President Theresa Two Bulls first met Wolf Guts after the tribal council honored him for his contributions. She said the passing of Wolf Guts is sad but the nation has to remember what he represented and what he did for the country.

“It’s because of people like him that we get to live in peace, and people should remember that and honor them with respect,” said Theresa Two Bulls, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. Both the Rosebud and Pine Ridge Indian reservations named this week Clarence Wolf Guts week.

A hawk flew overhead during the ceremonies.

“I was sad at first, but when I saw that the spirit came out. It was a very good sign,” Doyle told Jerke. “When we all saw that, we knew he was OK.”

Gwen Florio

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18
Jun

Clarence Wolf Guts, last Oglala Lakota code talker, dies at 86

   Posted by: admin    in Code Talkers, Native veterans, Oglala Lakota, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

Here’s a story you’ll want to read in full. It’s by Holly Meyer of the Rapid City, S.D., Journal:

Clarence Wolf Guts sits on the steps of his son's home in the town of Wanblee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. (Steve McEnroe/Rapid City Journal)

Clarence Wolf Guts sits on the steps of his son's home in the town of Wanblee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. (Steve McEnroe/Rapid City Journal)

When the towers of the World Trade Center fell on Sept. 11, 2001, Clarence Wolf Guts asked his son to call the U.S. Department of Defense to see if the country needed his code talking abilities to find Osama Bin Laden.

Wolf Guts was in his late 70s at the time, so his son, Don Doyle, did not make the call, but said the request personified his father’s love of country.

“He still wanted to help. He was trying to still be patriotic,” Doyle said.

Wolf Guts, 86, the last surviving Oglala Lakota code talker, died Wednesday afternoon at the South Dakota State Veterans Home in Hot Springs.

A Native American code talker from World War II, Wolf Guts helped defeat Axis forces by transmitting strategic military messages in his native language, which the Japanese and Germans couldn’t translate.

“He’s the last surviving code talker from the whole (Lakota) nation. It’s going to be a little like the passing of an era,” Doyle said.

The 450 Navajo code talkers were the most famous group of Native American soldiers to radio messages from the battlefields, but 15 other tribes used their languages to aid the Allied efforts in World War II.

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