The Color Of My Country

Nice shots... USMA is not a bad second choice for those who could not get into USNA ;)

"Mom. Why are you crying?"

"Because now your DE-PLOY-A-BLE"

"That's the whole idea, Mom"

Known to many throughout the Spokane region for his work helping at various sacred ceremonies and veterans’ events, Army veteran Glen Douglas will be missed. Douglas, 84, died recently after battling a long illness.

He was born on the Okanogan Reserve in Canada, a Lakes-Okanogan Indian and part of the Colville Tribe. An article in the Spokesman Review newspaper relates how he was taken from his home at age 12 and sent to a boarding school in Cranbrook, British Columbia. “We were beaten for speaking our language. They were beating the devil out of me,” Douglas was reported saying during an interview in 2004. He was later to receive monetary reimbursement from the Canadian government for that period of his life.

Eric Loer, Colville/Spokane, referred to Douglas as, “My best friend. He was my uncle.” He also was aware of Douglas’ experience at the boarding school. He said simply, “It was very bad!”

Douglas moved to the U.S. when he was 14 where he worked on his uncle’s ranch near Oroville, Washington and joined the U.S. Army when he was just 17, the start of a long and distinguished career that saw him take part in three wars: World War II, the Korean War, and Vietnam.

“He was in the Army with the 101st Airborne most of the time,” Loer said. He reported to Fort Lewis, Washington in May of 1944 and joined the 101st in Belgium in 1945. During the 2004 interview Douglas said he was injured by a grenade in 1953 during the Korean War. During his first tour in Vietnam he was an intelligence analyst with a Special Forces team.

John Davis is the homeless coordinator for the Spokane Veteran Affairs and knew Douglas very well. “He adopted me into his family and I called him ‘uncle’ too. I’d do anything for him.”

“Glen was a mentor and a role model. He was well versed. He could speak very eloquently. He was a leader, not only from the military but from his own people,” Davis commented. “He flew all over Canada and the U.S. talking about Native American culture. He would dress in full regalia and was a very impressive figure, a man who had many military honors and a highly decorated veteran.”

Roy Benavidez was called a dumb Mexican as a child.

It was May 2nd, 1968 near the Vietnamese and Cambodian border. SSgt Roy Benavidez heard about a twelve-man unit that was surrounded by enemy fire. He voluntarily jumped on a helicopter to help recover his comrades. He didn’t have a weapon of his own. The rescue copter couldn’t land because of all the bullets flying, so Benavidez jumped out of the copter while suspended 15 to 20 feet in the air and a 100 yards away from the fight.
A few strides into the rescue mission and Roy was shot in his leg. He fell, got back up and continued towards his friends. 75 yards later Benavidez was down again, this time due to shrapnel from a grenade. He crawled the rest of the way into the perimeter. Once in the perimeter, SSgt Benavidez took command, repositioning the troops and calling in air support right on top of them. After hours of fighting, a helicopter was finally able to land.

Benavidez then shifted his focus into loading the injured men and classified material aboard the copter. During one of his many trips, Roy Benavidez engaged in hand to hand combat with an enemy combatant. Roy was only 5'6" but that didn’t stop him from killing that combatant. After that fight within the fight, one of the pilots witnessed Roy’s intestines visible outside of his body. That still didn’t stop Roy from continuing to go back for another trip; he would leave no man behind. Eventually, it was recorded that Roy had over 30 wounds to his body. He finally collapsed, soaked in blood on the helicopter.
He held his own intestines on the flight back to base.
Roy Benavidez was awarded the Medal of Honor. Yaqui Indian Warrior.