DENVER – Temperatures hovered above 100 degrees Aug. 2 as John Emhoolah, Kiowa/Arapaho, recalled the frigid cold of a Korean War zone while visitors toured the Colorado governor;s mansion and inspected a tipi he erected on its formal, manicured lawn.
Emhoolah participated in a Governor’s Open House for the public, some of whom were early visitors to Denver for the Democratic National Convention.
He and his troupe, the Northern and Southern Plains Indian Dancers and Singers, are expected to be featured in the opening night grand entry for the DNC.
On this day, he was interviewed about his war experiences in light of a veteran’s honoring ceremony for him in Denver attended by the National Geographic Society and the Smithsonian Foundation, which presented him with a peace medal replica. The honoring pow wow was conducted by the nonprofit Tesoro Foundation.
A key theme of his war reminiscences: ”It was bitter cold,” he said of landing on a beach in the Korean War. ”Seemed like it was always cold.
”As a matter of fact, it was so cold that the ropes were frozen, but we had to get down from the ship to where the landing crafts were.”
He made it down, all right – but on his back, he said, in a fall that could have been disastrous had it happened a different way.
”I was lucky I fell on my back, because I had grenades, three on each side, here,” he said, pointing to his chest.
The battles ranged from Inchon north and, as a forward observer, he was in a hazardous position as he called in artillery strikes. He remembered the field packs they carried, filled with heavy radios as well as their personal gear. But he said it was something they ”just did.”
”I wasn’t expecting that – doing the honoring they did for me at the pow wow – that was a surprise, that the Smithsonian sent the medal,” he said.
He was in the Thunderbird (Oklahoma) Division, which was 60 to 70 percent, or more, Indian soldiers. His unit included Kiowas, Comanches, Caddoes, Wichitas and Delawares, he said.
Emhoolah hails from Anadarko, Okla., and the heat wave in Denver recalled other tribal ceremonies held at this time of year.
The Kiowa Sun Dance ended in 1892 when the buffalo disappeared and U.S. military from Fort Sill, Okla., surrounded the Kiowa camp, fearing they were going back to war.
Nevertheless, for years he has attended the Northern Arapaho Sun Dance on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, he said, where controversy has enveloped one of his family members.
Emhoolah said his nephew, Winslow Friday, was acting in the spirit of doing what was needed to conduct the Sun Dance, even though Friday was charged with shooting a bald eagle in 2005.
Friday, of Ethete, Wyo., was accused of breaking eagle protection federal law when he killed the bird, although his Sun Dance requires an eagle taken from the wild. Short of an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the case will be sent back to a lower court for sentencing.
”This country belongs to us – to the Indians,” Emhoolah said. ”Why can’t they understand that? They need to respect our ways.”
Emhoolah talked about Kiowa customs and dances, and then turned his attention to the tourists and other visitors waiting for the troupe to begin its performance for the open house.
He is a co-founder of the Denver March Powwow, a former director of the Denver Indian Center, and chairman of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science’s Native American Resource Group.
He is a member of Waterbird Singers, a Southern-style drum group. His dance troupe includes members of a number of tribal nations, including the Kiowa, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Wichita, Ute, Navajo and others.
Emhoolah is a member of the O-Ho-Mah Lodge Traditional War Dance Society, Kiowa Black Leggings Society, and Kiowa Gourd Dance Society. He has been head singer, head dancer, master of ceremonies and arena director for many pow wows around the country.
