Keywords: General douglas macarthur meets american indian troops wwii military pacific navajo pima newspaper photo typical.jpg Southwest Pacific Area on an inspection trip of American battle fronts met representatives of five different American Indian tribes in one United States Army unit Left to right S/Sgt Virgil Brown Pima Phoenix Arizona; First Sergeant Virgil F Howell Pawnee of Pawnee Oklahoma; S/Sgt Alvin J Vilcan Chitimacha of Charenton La General MacArthur; S/Sgt Byron L Tsignine Navajo of Fort Defiance Arizona; Sgt Larry L Dokin Navajo of Copper Mine Arizona US SIGNAL CORPS PHOTO <ref>US Army Signal Corps 832nd Signal Service Co Official Photo 17641 released for publication by War Department Photo News Board Bureau of Public Relations 31 Dec 1943 </ref> Period Stamped Markings Photographed by blank Assignment Unit No 832nd Signal Service Co Reg No handwritten <u>17641</u> Photo By U S Army S unreadable FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Not to be Released from unreadable <ref>Ibid </ref> RELEASED FOR PUBLICATION DEC 31 1943 WAR DEPARTMENT Photo News Bd Bur Pub Relations 2 <ref>Ibid </ref> OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS Washington D C RECEIVED Jan - 3 1944 <ref>Ibid </ref> AFTER USE PLEASE RETURN TO-- handwritten Information 1001 M unreadable Mart Office of Indian Affairs Department of the Interior handwritten Chicago <ref>Ibid </ref> Period Publication Like some other photos selected for national distribution by the War Department Photo News Board Bureau of Public Relations this image appeared in newspapers from coast to coast Still-verifiable instances are known from newspapers of the states of New York South Dakota Minnesota and others <ref> MacArthur Poses With His Indian Warriors in The Greece Press Greece NY 4 Feb 1944 Pg 4 http //fultonhistory com/newspapers 206/Greece 20NY 20Press/Greece 20NY 20Press 201943 20- 201944 20Grayscale pdf/Greece 20NY 20Press 201943 20- 201944 20Grayscale 20- 200330 pdf</ref><ref> MacArthur Poses With His Indian Warriors in The Montrose Herald Montrose SD 4 Feb 1944 Pg 6 http //img8 footnote com/img/thumbnail/46981418/250/250/0_0_4236_6272 jpg</ref><ref> MacArthur Poses With His Indian Warriors in Hutchinson Herald Menno SD 3 Feb 1944 Pg 2 http //img8 footnote com/img/thumbnail/56862738/250/250/0_0_4008_6246 jpg</ref><ref>Et al</ref> Invariably the Signal Corps' original caption above was edited to exclude the line on an inspection trip of American battle fronts and the headline MacArthur Poses With His Indian Warriors was added <ref> MacArthur Poses With His Indian Warriors in The Greece Press Greece NY 4 Feb 1944 Pg 4 http //fultonhistory com/newspapers 206/Greece 20NY 20Press/Greece 20NY 20Press 201943 20- 201944 20Grayscale pdf/Greece 20NY 20Press 201943 20- 201944 20Grayscale 20- 200330 pdf</ref><ref> MacArthur Poses With His Indian Warriors in The Montrose Herald Montrose SD 4 Feb 1944 Pg 6 http //img8 footnote com/img/thumbnail/46981418/250/250/0_0_4236_6272 jpg</ref><ref> MacArthur Poses With His Indian Warriors in Hutchinson Herald Menno SD 3 Feb 1944 Pg 2 http //img8 footnote com/img/thumbnail/56862738/250/250/0_0_4008_6246 jpg</ref><ref>Et al</ref> The added headline's Stereotypical use of the phrase Indian Warriors even while reflecting the popular sentiment of the era can be offensive to politically-correct modern readers Notes on The Photographed People Of course the general is well documented in the Douglas MacArthur section of Wikipedia According to the author of Silent Warriors of World War II The Alamo Scouts Behind Japanese Lines Sgt Byron L Tsingine a Navajo from the Deer Water People Clan from Coppermine Ariz and Ssg Alvin J Vilcan a Chitimacha from Louisiana graduated from the first training class at the Alamo Scouts Training Center and the Alamo Scouts were a top secret reconnaissance and raider unit later recognized by the Army as a forerunner of the modern Special Forces <ref>Zedric Lance Q American Indians of the Alamo Scouts Part Two in Indian Country Today http //74 125 113 132/search q cache 413YoBtD4LcJ www unitednativeamerica com/alamo_scouts html+ 22virgil+f+howell 22 cd 1 hl en ct clnk gl us </ref> Tsingine was qualified for operational team duty but instead returned to his unit the 158th infantry to serve as a scout and code talker <ref>Ibid </ref> While the once-secret Navajo Code Talkers are now the celebrated subjects of documentaries these generally refer only to those which served in the US Marines However some Army units used Navajo speakers as communications liaisons with the Marine units Soldier Earl Newman of the Service Company of the 158th said Tsingine and other Indians were invaluable they would speak Navajo and confuse the Japanese; A Navajo was placed in each company and Tsingine communicated using the Navajo language when he did reconnaissance work <ref>Newman Earl in Zedric Lance Q American Indians of the Alamo Scouts Part Two in Indian Country Today http //74 125 113 132/search q cache 413YoBtD4LcJ www unitednativeamerica com/alamo_scouts html+ 22virgil+f+howell 22 cd 1 hl en ct clnk gl us</ref> The seldom-photographed S/Sgt Alvin J Vilcan was one of only around 70 then-living members of the Chitimacha tribe ---and one of very few in the US military during WWII <ref>http //en wikipedia org/wiki/Chitimacha</ref> Sources Reflist US Army Signal Corps 832nd Signal Service Co Official Photo 17641 User CramYourSpam retouch edit of old Signal Corps photo as reprinted in old newspaper 1943-12-31 PD-retouched-user PD-USGov-Military-Army Douglas MacArthur in 1943 Navajo code talkers Pima Pawnee Chitimacha 1944 newspapers Department of the Interior Office of Indian Affairs World War II in newspapers |