Editorial: Honoring Woody Keeble, a Sioux warrior
Monday, March 3, 2008
Filed Under:
Opinion
"At 2:30 p.m., President George Bush will award the Medal of Honor to the late Master Sgt. Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Keeble, a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton tribe. He'll be the sixth American Indian and first Sioux Indian to be given the award.
His family will be there to accept the rare and beautiful medal, the highest award for valor in action against an enemy force. The North Dakota and South Dakota congressional delegations also will attend.
And the Grand Forks area has a connection to this larger-than-life hero, too, through the Engelstad Arena's modest but dignified shrine. Keeble's family donated his uniform, medals and other memorabilia for the permanent display.
The uniform looks ordinary enough at first glance. A veteran, though, will spot that it's not ordinary at all: The “fruit salad” of medals that climbs the uniform's chest is topped by combat awards. The Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart and the Combat Infantryman Badge, itself carrying the star that speaks of Keeble's involvement in both World War II and the Korean War - these show the wearer to have been an exceptional soldier.
That would be an accurate assessment, those who knew Keeble say. “The safest place to be was right next to Woody,” said a member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe who fought with Keeble on the World War II island of Guadalcanal."
Get the Story:
OUR OPINION : Keeble's legacy in GF
(The Grand Forks Herald 3/1)
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More Stories:
Bush to award Sioux veteran Medal of Honor Monday (The Rapid City Journal 3/3)
A Hero Remembered [second item] (The Washington Post 3/3)
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Relevant Links:
National Native American Veterans Association -
http://www.nnava.org
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