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Post by darlington on Nov 18, 2012 16:37:10 GMT -5
hi all im new to this site i visited pine ridge in1999 and stayed at wakapamni particiated in a sweat with willlard black cat....my question is did any lakota take any scalps counted coup or require the deeds to be war chief in either world wars as dr joe medicine crow of the aspalooka did in the latter.....kind regards mark...england
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Post by ladonna on Nov 19, 2012 10:29:56 GMT -5
As the Lakota people we counted coup in our battles as an act of bravery, The men carried a coup stick, they would go in the mist of battle and tap their enemy with the coup strick, which was considered to be a brave act rather than killing the enemy when they returned from a victory the women held scalp lock to honor the men and danced for them, some time the scalp lock were horse hair, it was not until the 1850s where they had human hair locks. A awr chief was selected by our Itancan for his leadership in war.
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Post by dT on Feb 25, 2013 18:05:29 GMT -5
darlington you can read about the general practice of scalping in this Wikipedia article. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalpingas you see ... it was not a "new invention" on the American frontier. It has occurred at various times in human history, and dates back a very long way. It is notable that both the American and Mexican Governments put a bounty on the scalps of American Indians ... a practice that I find terrible and revolting. All the more so - because it applied to woman and children as well as to men. But there is no doubt that it did occur. It appears though, that scalping may have been practiced by some North American tribes for their own reasons. Early accounts of white settlers who encountered the Commanches, for example, indicate that scalping was done (sometimes when the captive was dead ... and sometimes while they were still alive). Other historical information also indicates that some North American tribes took scalps before the arrival of white men on the US continent. Here is an article showing the warfare practices of a tribe in Florida ... and certainly these were customs that they had before colonists came ... www.examiner.com/article/macabre-and-strange-facts-about-florida-s-native-americans-1Until I researched your question ... I did not know that US forces took body parts during the World Wars. However, there seems to be credible accounts that some US servicemen kept body parts from Japanese soldiers in WW2 and brought them back to America as souvenirs. It seems to be mainly skulls, pieces of skulls and other bones. You'll have to look into this more yourself. It's not clear that the participation by Native Americans in the War in the Pacific is related to what happened. It could have been caused by the intense hatred that existed in the battles that were fought out there. www.amazon.com/forum/world%20war%20ii/TxOO434LR8VAWWdT |
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Post by ladonna on Feb 26, 2013 15:59:48 GMT -5
My grandfather fough in world war I and i have never heard of them taken any body part in this war. My Uncle in WWII and he did not we would not allow body parts in our homes because we would not want the spirit of the enmy in our homes.
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Post by dT on Feb 27, 2013 10:19:14 GMT -5
I'm sure that all you say is true. I also have relatives who fought in the Pacific in WW2. They never brought back any human remains. So when I started writing an answer in my post above, at first I said "No, this did not happen". But then I decided to ask questions and look around ... and to my surprise I discovered that there were men who brought back pieces of their enemies bones. But I don't think it was Native Americans who did this - for exactly the same reasons you say.
The only thing I can add is this. The Japanese soldiers were determined, very disciplined, and cunning. Much of that war was fought on the islands and also in the jungles. It forced men to face each other at close quarters. The fighting became extremely intense. Men who went through that fighting never wanted anything to do with war again. A lot of soldiers who went through that experience - never spoke again about what happened. Only many, many years later did the US Marines write stories about what happened on the Island of Tarawa. And I can tell you from personal stories of Filipino warriors who fought the Japanese in the jungles of the Philippines ... it was the same thing. They never talked about their experiences after that war. If you asked them - they would just remain silent and tell you to go away. So there was a lot of lingering hatred. So perhaps that is why some American soldiers brought back skulls and pieces of bones. It was like a type of revenge.
dT
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Post by gregor on Feb 27, 2013 14:36:56 GMT -5
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Post by dT on Feb 27, 2013 22:15:07 GMT -5
thanks gregor. I had never heard that info about Col David Hackworth's unit. frankly, I'm a little shocked. i guess the US Army didn't want it to get any more attention. As for disgusting foto's ... not interested. it's a very bad part of human nature.
dT
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