A collection from Tinker Perkins's service in the Vietnam War. Photo by Tinker Perkins
A veteran from the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma who served in the Vietnam War is on unique mission Tinker Perkins, 69, has been collecting the names of all the Native Americans who fought in Vietnam. So far he has verified 243, all of them printed on a T-shirt that he takes around Indian Country. “It shows the Native Americans that signed up and went to war,” Perkins told The Idaho State Journal of his effort. “It makes me feel good because we never said no, even though it wasn’t a good war, supposedly.” Perkins, who served in the U.S. Marines, believes there are a couple hundred more Native Americans to be added. He now lives on the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho, home to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes. Get the Story:
A quest, and a shirt, to remember Native Americans killed in Vietnam War (The Idaho State Journal 11/9)
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