More than 400 people celebrated with the newly inducted members of the Yankton Sioux Tribe Business and Claims Committee Friday, September 30, 2011 in Wagner, SD. The newly elected Chairman, Thurman Cournoyer, is a former Marty student. At the tribal induction ceremony into the Chairman position, Thurman stated he plans provide transparency, better law and policy enforcement while promoting the tribe’s heritage. “I will do my best to remember that I am only a common man with a tremendous responsibility to my Oyate,” he said to cheers and a round of applause. The tribe elected leaders on Sept. 1. They will serve two-year terms. Prior to the induction ceremony, the crowd enjoyed the often humorous remarks of Butch Felix, who emceed the event. He also made some serious statements about the future of the tribe, calling for the youth to embrace their heritage and become positive future leaders of the tribe. Thomasina Real Bird, an enrolled member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe who attended Wagner Community School, Stanford University, the University of New Mexico Law School and Columbia Law School in New York City addressed the new leaders. “The individuals who have stepped up to the plate will soon find there is no greater privilege than serving our tribal members and strengthening our government,” Real Bird said. She encouraged the incoming tribal officials to strengthen relationships within and outside the Yankton Sioux Tribe and thanked the outgoing tribal officials for their service and leadership. Marty Indian School student council president, Garret Drapeau, received a standing ovation when he shared his thoughts about leadership and how it affects his fellow youths’ futures. “What is leadership?” Drapeau asked. “It is integrity, the willingness to work long hours, honor and trust.” The crowd was on their feet after his presentation. Rosebud Sioux Tribe President, Rodney Bordeaux, who gave the keynote address, stressed unity, “All tribal members need to embrace each other and work together.” He added that educating youth and economic development should be two major focuses, along with unity within the tribe.

Thurman was honored by the veteran’s committee at the 2009 Marty reunion for his heroic deeds during the Cuban crises while serving aboard a ship off the coast of Cuba. Ernie McCloud presented Thurman with several certificates and shared stories about his service in the Navy. At that honoring, his nephew, son of Wally Cournoyer, sang the honor song. We wish Thurman much success in his new position!

Ernest Wabasha

Eugene Konor

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In Memory of Carole Anne Heart

family and close friends are planning a

Memorial and Headstone Unveiling for the Fall of 2011

Help us to remember the leagacy of Carole Anne Heart and please make donations towards the purchase of the Headstone and Memorial Dinner.

Please contribute to this project. Make your donation payable to Sarah Arobba, PO Box 9746, Rapid City, SD 57709 with a notation that it is for the Carole Anne Heart Memorial. Contributions made early will help us in our planning and with the event budget. We are very grateful with whatever you are able to help us with. We plan to list the names of all the contributors on a program of the event at the unveiling and memorial dinner.

The date for the unveiling, and memorial dinner is set for Saturday, September 24, 2011, at the Mother Butler Center in Rapid City, SD. If you are able, please RSVP on the Carole Anne Heart Memorial facebook page.

Sister Anthony Marie Davis

Word has been received of the death of Sister Anthony Marie Davis on Friday, January 21, 2011. Sister Anthony Marie was among the first group of Indian women who entered religious life at Marty 75 years ago. Over the years she served on several reservations and at the convent in Rapid City, SD. She devoted her life to caring for those in need. Her kind and mild manner was welcomed by all. We will remember her in our prayers.

There are original photos in the old gym that tell the story of Marty. There is also talk of demolishing buildings as a result of the flood. No one is certain if the gym will be torn down. But, as a precaution, former Marty students are encouraged to contact the tribal council for the Yankton tribe to ask them to preserve this original art work. Their address is as follows:  Yankton Sioux Tribe, P.O. Box 248, Marty, SD 57361. The Chairman is Robert Cornouyer and the Vice Chairperson is Karen Archambeau.

Photos Below by Felix Walking (Elk)

Old Gym - Marty

Clara Dean (Chase) Shields

Dolly Azure-Plumage

Dolly Azure-Plumage died in Billings, MT on December 30, 2011. Services for Dolly were held at Belcourt, ND on Monday, January 2, 2012. Dolly was a 1955 graduate of Marty and attended many of the reunions in recent years.

Gerald Soukup

Gerald "Gerry" Soukup, Marty graduate from the Class of 1962, passed away in Sioux Falls, SD on September 5, 2011. He was buried in the Catholic Cemetery at Wagner, SD.

        The harsh reality of the Vietnam War hit home in a hellish moment to 19-year-old David L. Dauphinais as he flew into his new assigned outpost overlooking the jungles of South Vietnam.   As he peered over the edge of the circling helicopter, Dauphinais noticed scores of what he thought were scarecrows in a field around the remote fire base. As the Chinook helicopter descended further to the ground, the young soldier saw that the dark forms were actually dead bodies of Viet Cong fighters lying or semi-standing in grotesque positions strewn across hundreds of yards of Constantine wire.           

     Dauphinais’ unit had been overrun briefly by the enemy in a night-time attack just hours before. “That was a rude awakening and I asked myself right then, ‘what the heck am I doing here?’ It was my first day in ‘Nam and that scene showed me what the war was all about in only a second. But, I made up my mind I was going to just do what I had to in order to survive. That’s all it was about for me when I was over there—just survive,” recalled Dauphinais.             The Turtle Mountain Chippewa tribal member did a lot more than just survive. He came home a truly decorated hero, but he was also a troubled man who didn’t want to ever speak of his experiences. He said he felt if he didn’t mention his experience, he wouldn’t have to relive the horrific days he wanted to forget.           

     During his year in Vietnam at the height of the war, Dauphinais earned the Silver Star for “gallantry in action,” and three bronze stars for “heroism in ground combat” and “meritorious achievement in ground operations against hostile forces.”  The Silver Star is an honor not many soldiers are given because it takes such bravery to distinguish such a high honor for combat action. The Silver Star was awarded to Sergeant Dauphinais in a ceremony with General William Westmoreland in March of 1969 for undeniable bravery in an assault on his artillery battery at Fire Support Base Diamond. All of his medals, especially the Silver Star are awarded by the authority of the President of the United States.           

     In that assault, Sgt. Dauphinais led his fellow troops in staving off a brutal attack from a very large Viet Cong force bent on destroying the fire base and wiping out all of the American soldiers. The enemy force managed to penetrate the perimeter. The young sergeant led a counter attack against the enemy and under heavy fire, Dauphinais personally attacked and killed a Viet Cong fighter in close quarters combat who was about to blow up the artillery shell storage shed.  After that episode, a propelled rocket blasted near the ammunition bunker in Dauphinais’ section. It set off a fire that would in a minute result in a total catastrophe. Without a thought for his own safety, he raced into the bunker under heavy small arms fire and personally extinguished the fire to ward off what would have been a massive explosion. Along with that incident, Sgt. Dauphinais was awarded the Bronze Star three times for valor where he single-handedly attacked enemy forces and defended his Howitzer cannons. Those bronze stars were awarded for Dauphinais’ heroics in other enemy ground assaults. The enemy desperately wanted the Americans’ heavy guns but Dauphinais was just as determined to keep the US weapons out of the hands of the enemy.           

     These are things that just happened. I wasn’t thinking about medals. I was just trying to do what I had to do to protect our gun crew and survive,” Dauphinais stated last week as he painfully recalled his year in the Southeast Asian jungles and rice paddies.   Seeing the reality of the horrific war taking place that first day in Vietnam wasn’t the only shock Dauphinais had experienced around that time period.  Only nine months earlier, Dauphinais was working for Boeing Aircraft Inc. in Seattle, Washington when the Belcourt man’s quiet evening was interrupted by a knock on the door.  I opened the door and there were two federal marshals standing there. I asked them what this was all about and they told me that the US Army was looking for me. I asked them why that was and they told me I had been drafted and had to report right away. But they gave me four months to come back to the reservation to get my stuff together and that’s what I did. I had no idea I had been drafted, but it was my mom who had been tearing up my letters telling me I had been drafted. “She didn’t want her son to go to war,” Dauphinais said with a grin. “My mom thought that if she ignored the letters, that she could keep me out of the war. She lost a nephew, Alois DeCoteau, back in World War II. He got killed at the Normandy invasion. My two uncles, Fred Dauphinais and Bob DeCoteau were also in World War II, so mom had a good idea of what war was about and she didn’t want her son to go. But, it was either that or Canada and I didn’t want to be a draft dodger, of course. So, I went to get ready for whatever came my way.”           

     Dauphinais took his basic training at Fort Lewis, Washington, and his advanced military training in artillery took place in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Dauphinais arrived in Vietnam at the tail end of the Tet Offensive which saw many American casualties and fierce combat in South Vietnam. “I made sergeant two months after I got to Vietnam and they made me section chief right away,” Dauphinais revealed. “Our job was to always be on the move with our Howitzers and get to all these hot spots with heavy enemy movements. We were constantly on the move and there never was a place we could call the ‘front lines’ back in ‘Nam. The time of the Tet Offensive, it was pretty bad. We were always near the Cambodian border and even though no one said anything, I knew for a fact we had crossed the border into Cambodia. There were no ‘Welcome to Cambodia’ signs, but I had knowledge of coordinates and that was enough to tell me we were across the border. In the time I was there, I managed to survive eleven different ground attacks on my unit and in three of those attacks, we were overrun three times. We were hit hard wherever we went. When we set up, we knew the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) and the Viet Cong were going to come after us. It was just a matter of time.”           

     Dauphinais had promised himself that he would never speak about his experiences in Vietnam, but since a fellow Vietnam veteran, Andrew LaVallie, passed away recently, he knew it was time to share the story of his Vietnam experiences after almost 40 years of near silence. The only men he would talk to about what he considered a taboo subject were a few local veterans who truly understood the trauma of combat and the post-traumatic effects on the human psyche.  “My commander seemed to always pick on me when we had to lay out our coordinates and scout out our position. I guess they had an idea that I could see in the dark or something. I would go out and do an assessment of any enemy positions and monitor the NVA and Viet Cong troop movements. I used to sit in the jungle watching them with my spy glasses as they resupplied and set up their camps. But there were so many tunnels, I could never be sure how many of the enemy there were. I just had to watch them and use my best judgment. I remember thinking that it was kind of unfair that I had to always be the one to go out and do the re-con, but I had no choice and had to follow orders and someone had to do it,” stated Dauphinais.           

     In the Silver Star Citation award, Colonel Robert Fair wrote of Dauphinais heroic deeds, “Sergeant Dauphinais distinguished himself by heroic actions on 23 February 1969, while serving as section chief with A Battery, 1^st Battalion, 8^th Field artillery in the Republic of Vietnam…elements of a Battery came under an intense attack from a large Communist force. At the initial instant of hostile activity, Sergeant Dauphinais immediately raced to his Howitzer to organize his gun crew for retaliatory fire. When the enemy penetrated the perimeter, Sergeant Dauphinais directed his personnel to fire point blank on the insurgents. Spotting an enemy soldier about to toss a grenade into the artillery parapet, Sergeant Dauphinais killed the hostile foe. An enemy rocket-propelled grenade exploded near the ammunition bunker of (his) section and set it afire. Sergeant Dauphinais, completely disregarding his own safety, raced through the holocaust of projectiles and extinguished the blaze before it caused any damage. His valorous actions contributed immeasurably to the repulsion of the insurgents…” In the citations for his three Bronze Stars, similar detailed explanations of Dauphinais’ bravery are also provided in those military documents.            

     Dauphinais lives a quiet life now on the foothills of the Turtle Mountains near Belcourt with his wife and companion of 32 years, the former Marlene Amyotte of Dunseith. Over the many years since his time in “hell”, Dauphinais said he spent many sleepless nights when the memories of war haunted him in his mind. He was reflected endlessly of how the war affected parts of his life and that is why he chose to try to put it out of his mind completely by not talking about it. Now he realizes that many war veterans have battled with many “demons” after their military service due to the violence and human suffering they witnessed and were a part of. Dauphinais’ journey to a semblance of inner peace has been a long arduous one that has seen a great measure of healing thanks to friends, family members and the fellow veterans who could relate to the same experiences.           

     “A lot of guys came back with post-traumatic syndrome that led them to drinking and other stuff to try to deal with it. It takes a lot of time for some to get over it and for a lot of us, we never will. I see my medals and I just think that I was in the wrong place at the right time. But, I know now that they’re some symbols of my character as a man and as a veteran,” said Dauphinais.  Dave is finally realizing that his actions in Vietnam were of the kind any person can be very proud. It took a very long time to come to that realization, he said. Dauphinais’ love and respect for his fellow veterans is part of the strength he has attained over the last forty years since his ordeal fighting in a foreign land in the name of freedom and in defense of his country. 

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Congratulations Karen Archambeau

Congratulations to Karen Archambeau who was recently elected Vice Chairperson of the Yankton Sioux Tribe! We wish her the very best as she undertakes this challenge. Karen has served in leadership roles over the years for her tribe and comes to the position with experience and a determination to serve her fellow tribal members.

GoodHealthTV

The next generation of Native American health education

http://www.goodhealthtv.com/

This site has lots of information that is pertinent to Native American health. You may see familiar faces among the people featured on this web site.

News from Bud and Frances Jetty

Time flies by when one is having fun, and our summer is going fast.  This past June found us away from home a great deal of time. Early in June we took part in the Catholic Indian Congress at Ft. Thompson. On the 8th of the month along with other from the Diocese of Sioux Falls we traveled to St. Louis for the Installation of our former Bishop, Robert J. Carlson, as he assumed his new assignment as the Archbishop of St. Louis. On the 20th of June we were in Highmore with our son, Ron Jetty, PhD who had come home for his 25th class reunion. And June 26-28 we took part in the reunion of former students of St Paul's Indian Mission at Marty, SD.  Needless to say, we met and had the pleasure of visiting many people.  In Highmore we took part in a dinner in honor of our cowboy friend, Mick Smith who was celebrating his 0th birthday and I heard a young cowboy mention that "PhD means post hole digger."  A young lady, the cowboy's cousin, who also has a Ph.D was sitting nearby.  Peace and best wishes.

Photos from Space

The space telescope, Hubble, has been sending phenomenal photos from outer space. Click on the site below and then click on thumbnail photo 2003-28 to start the slide show.  Enjoy!

http://www.inspi.net/best-of-hubble-telescope/slideshow/index.html

Mae Lenoir

Word arrived today that Mae Lenoir died Monday, December 14,2009. She was 98 years old. Barney and Mae Lenoir worked at Marty and lived on one of the farms for many years. Mae worked as a seamstress and helped where she was needed at the mission for more than 25 years. They moved to Marty from the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota in the 1950's. Barney preceded her in death as well as her son Dicky and daughters Bernice and Patty. She is survived by her children Dorie, Wally, Helen, Eileen, Donna, Steve, Jimmy, Tessie and their families. Our condolences go out to the family.

Bill and Charlotte Monette's son, Bill Blake, loses life

On Friday, July 31, 2009, Bill Blake, 45-year old son of Bill and Charlotte Monette died in a Minneapolis hospital.  Bill had been waiting for a heart transplant after suffering a heart attack.  Bill Blake was a sergeant on the Minneapolis Police Force and brought an awareness of American Indian issues to that department. He sponsored professional development for his fellow law enforcement officers designed to sensitize the department to the American Indian community. A special service for Law Enforcement will take place in Minneapolis followed by an all-night vigil Wednesday, August 5 and the funeral on Thursday, August 6, 2009 at Red Lake.

Ambrose Little Ghost

Ambrose Little Ghost died in a Devils Lake, ND hospital on Friday, July 31, 2009.  A four-day wake was held at his home on the Spirit Lake Reservation. His funeral took place on Thursday, August 6, 2009.  Ambrose and his wife, Anna, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary earlier this year. He was a respected spiritual leader who was generous with his time. Ambrose was often asked to pray with American Indian people from Spirit Lake and many other tribes. Those who shared his life will miss his leadership and kindness.