Sacrifice and Honor: A Virtual Tour of Haskell’s Long History of Honoring Veterans

Volume 29, No. 2 - Winter 2017

November 8, 2017

Located in Lawrence, Kansas, Haskell Indian Nations University began as the U.S. Training and Industrial School, a boarding school for Native students. Its curriculum focused on industrial education with the goal of building a skilled workforce that would help transform tribal communities. In 1887, the school changed its name to the Haskell Institute in honor of U.S. Representative Chase Dudley Haskell, who supported the school and headed the House Committee on Indian Affairs. The school was and still is federally funded.

Over the next century, Haskell continued to transform—first into a junior college and eventually into the university we know today, which offers a wide range of programs that are culturally grounded. Attracting Native students from across the United States, Haskell is often regarded as the national American Indian university.

Despite the myriad changes, one constant has been Haskell’s strong support for American Indian service men and women. From the Great War to the present, Haskell has honored veterans and dedicated multiple memorials and monuments to those who have served. Some can be found in the Haskell Cultural Center and Museum, others stand throughout the university’s campus. What follows is a virtual tour of Haskell’s long history of honoring veterans.

Shortly after the United States entered World War I, Haskell created its own service flag for American Indian men who enlisted. Today, the service flag hangs from the rafters of the Haskell Cultural Center and Museum.
In April of 1918, as the Great War raged in Europe, Haskell’s student newspaper, The Indian Leader, encouraged service and support for the troops abroad. They adorned this issue with the institute’s service flag.
As with all of America’s wars, proportionally more Native people served than any other ethnic group. At Haskell, scores of students volunteered. This photograph published in the school newspaper, The Indian Leader, shows enlisted Haskell students awaiting deployment.
World War I was the first conflict that utilized American Indian code talkers who spoke their Indigenous languages to relay messages via radio operators. As with World War II, the enemy was never able to break the code. Pictured here are the original Choctaw code talkers. From left: Solomon Lewis, Mitchell Bob, Ben Carterby, Robert Taylor, Jeff Nelson, Pete Maytubby, James Edwards, and Calvin Wilson.
In 1924, Haskell announced that it would build a new stadium on campus and that the project would be funded by donations from Indian people. Two Haskell alumni, Agnes Quapaw Hoffman (left) and Alice Beaver Hallam (right), both of the Quapaw Nation, donated $15,000 for an archway that would be dedicated to Haskell’s WWI veterans.
Haskell’s famed archway was officially dedicated in 1926. It was the very first WWI memorial in the United States.
Thousands of people attended the dedication ceremony for the institute’s new archway and stadium. The event featured three days of festivities, including what was billed as “the greatest pow-wow of all times.” Haskell crushed Bucknell in the new stadium’s inaugural game, winning 36-0. Indeed, Haskell’s famed football team went undefeated in 1926 and led the nation with 558 points.
During the interwar period, Haskell continued its exemplary military service. In 1921, the institute established the 137th Infantry Regiment, 35th Infantry Division, as an all-Indian machine gun unit.
Pictured above is Troop C of the 114th Cavalry, another all-Indian unit in Kansas. The troop posed for this photo in 1927.
Here, Troop C of the 114th Cavalry is dressed in traditional regalia. Despite efforts to assimilate Native peoples, students at Haskell embraced and took pride in their culture.
So revered were the 114th Cavalry and the 137th Infantry that Stella Robbins wrote and dedicated a march song to the units.
So revered were the 114th Cavalry and the 137th Infantry that Stella Robbins wrote and dedicated a march song to the units.
So revered were the 114th Cavalry and the 137th Infantry that Stella Robbins wrote and dedicated a march song to the units.
So revered were the 114th Cavalry and the 137th Infantry that Stella Robbins wrote and dedicated a march song to the units.
Haskell students and American Indians in general served honorably in World War II. To commemorate their service, Haskell commissioned Apache sculptor Allan Houser to create a special memorial to those who served.
Houser’s sculpture, entitled Comrade in Mourning, stands in Navarre Hall on Haskell’s campus.
Haskell also recognizes those Native people who served as code talkers during World War II, whose code secured the Allied victory in the Pacific theater of war. One of the congressional medals dedicated to the Navajo code talkers is on display in the Haskell Cultural Center and Museum.
In 2005, the Haskell Veterans Club commissioned Prairie Band Potawatomi artist Barry Coffin to create a bronze sculpture dedicated to tribal mothers who lost a child in war. The memorial is on display outside the Haskell Cultural Center and Museum.
Haskell’s Veterans Memorial Wall, just outside the university’s cultural center, recognizes the four branches of the military and honors Haskell students and alumni who have served their country.
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