As a young boy I lived near Camp Polk, which was located near Leesville, Louisiana where my father worked during the Korean War. At that time the 45th Infantry Division, Thunder bird Division was stationed there prior to deployment to Korea. I collected many military patches in those days, but was most impressed by the 45th's Division patch --- the Thunder bird. Recently I put an image of that patch in one of my blog's side bars and while looking for that image made a startling discovery.
45th Infantry Division Patch 1920-1939
45th Infantry Division Patch 1939-Present
The twists and turns of history never cease to amaze me. Could the ancient native American tribes have known that a great symbol of theirs would be stolen by a mad man half a world away and discredited for eternity!
On this memorial day I remember as a young boy of 12, one of the members of the 45th, don't know if he came home. But my memories of a young student of mine from the 1960's is more vivid and the young man, who went off to Nam, never again saw the shores of his native land. May God bless these young men!
I'm reminded of a few lines from a Sir Walter Scott poem, "Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land". For we are all, all native Americans regardless of how we got here---from the great land bridges of Asia to America or from the Mayflower! Too many forget this simple truth.
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Sooner Gals
HILLARY BUMPER STICKERS SECOND AMENDMENT STICKERS
HILLARY T-SHIRTS
1 comment:
Yeah. The first time I saw a swastika pictured in native American art, my first thought was, "What the hey?"
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