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‘Luckiest Gros Ventre’

A great warrior served his country in the Great War

Submitted Photo This photo shows some of the Legion Post members meeting with Sen. William Langer, center front, about 1950. From left to right are: Martin Cross (WWII), Sgt. John Smith (WWI), Judge Peter Beauchamp, Sen. William Langer, Martin Levings (WWI) and Ralph Case, attorney.

Editor’s Note:

United Tribes Technical College will host an honoring for World War I Native American servicemen from North Dakota on Sunday, Sept. 10, following the 1 p.m. grand entry of the United Tribes Technical College’s International Powwow.

Marilyn Hudson of Parshall has written this story about John W. Smith of the Fort Berthold Reservation, who served in World War I.

This is a story about a young man who went to war 100 years ago. John Smith was 19 years old when the U.S. declared war on the Imperial German Government on April 6, 1917.

John was living in a place called Shell Village on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota, a son of Conrad and Mary Red Feather Smith. He enlisted on Aug. 11, 1917, and was the first soldier from our reservation to enlist in this Great War. John was sent overseas and survived many battles with the enemy on French soil. He was discharged on Sept. 24, 1919, with the rank of sergeant. He was cited for Conspicuous Gallantry in Action and entitled to wear the Silver Star. John was always proud of his service with the 1st Division as is shown by the stamp he attached to this photo (right). After his return home to the reservation, John W. Smith was always known as Sgt. Smith.

Submitted Photo John Smith is shown standing. The other man is unknown.

John Smith and my aunt Alice Old Dog were cousins and were the same age. My aunt kept of a lot photos and post cards from John Smith in her scrapbook. John was certainly one of the first, if not the first, family member to travel any great distance away from the reservation. To travel to another country would have been unbelievable 100 years ago. I am sure John was both a hero and a sort of celebrity upon his return to tell about the sights he had seen in France.

I don’t know where John went to school as a child but he had a good command of the English language, which is shown on the letters and cards he sent to his family back home. John also sent many picture postcards and souvenir cards. Some of the postcards show actual scenes in France where “these buildings are shelled down” and “another place shelled down.”

When the war ended on Nov. 11, 1918 (which we now celebrate as Veterans’ Day every year), the commanding officer rated Sgt. Smith as a “very good scout and leader of men.” Later, John Smith filled out a report and wrote these words for Joseph Dixon – “I am proud that I was the first to enlist and spend more days in trenches than the rest of the boys from this Reservation. I’ve had some close calls, too. While going over on the Soissons Drive July 18, 1918, a big shell lit ’bout 2 ft to the right of me and exploded but didn’t kill me. It killed two men on the right of me. I was just black with powder. That’s all and if you don’t call that luck – machine gun bullets tore my breeches all up the same day too. I think I’m the luckiest Grosventre.” (Ref: Warriors in Khaki by Michael J. and Ann G. Knudson 2012, Robertson Publishing)

After his discharge and his return to the reservation, John helped establish the Joseph Young Hawk Post 253, the first American Legion Post on the Fort Berthold Reservation. In 1944, Congress passed the Flood Control Act, which resulted in the Garrison Dam being built on the Missouri River. The reservoir flooded 155,000 acres of the tribal land and 90 percent of the family homes, resulting in a massive relocation of the Fort Berthold people to higher ground. The Joseph Young Hawk Post, along with the rest of the tribal people, objected valiantly to the taking of the land but were unable to stop the building of the dam and the resultant large body of water now known as Lake Sakakawea.

John Smith and his family moved to Poplar, Mont., after the Garrison Dam was built. He often visited family and friends at Fort Berthold. Sgt. Smith passed away on April 19, 1977. He was laid to rest at the Shell Village Congregational Cemetery located south of New Town. This church and cemetery were moved from its original site at Shell Village when the waters of the Garrison Reservoir came in 1953. Many of Sgt. Smith’s relatives and friends are buried in the cemetery near this church.

There are about 25 veterans of the Armed Forces buried in this cemetery. Pvt. Charles Fox, Sgt. Smith’s long-ago friend and neighbor from Shell Village who also served honorably on the battlefields of France in World War I, is buried here as well as veterans from World War II, Korea and Vietnam. They are not forgotten. Every year on Memorial Day, the local Legion post members place an American flag on every veteran’s grave and a three-volley rifle shot is fired over the grave as is customary on Memorial Day services.

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