Honoring USS Arikara crew members

Former USS Arikara crew members seek support for new ship named for tribe

Former crew members who served on the USS Arikara, a ship decommissioned in 1971, are calling on Arikara tribal members and North Dakota's congressional delegation for their support for a new U.S. Navy ship to be named in honor of the N.D. tribe.

Earlier this year, it came to the attention of the USS Arikara crew members through a Naval Institute Newsletter that the U.S. Navy has contracted for construction of several new salvage, towing and rescue ships (the Navajo-class), said Peter Ward, a former USS Arikara crew member from Charleston, S.C.

He said the Navy's new fleet of these vessels are being named in honor of American Indian tribes.

"These new ships are to be the latest version of the original ocean-going tugs that were built for the Navy in World War II. One of those original ships was the USS Arikara (ATF-98)," Ward said.

The original USS Arikara (AT-98) was an Abnaki-class of fleet ocean tugs. It was launched in 1943 in Charleston, S.C., commissioned in January 1944 and saw service in World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War and also in peacetime. The ship had a complement of about six officers and about 65 enlisted members. USS Arikara earned a Navy Unit Commendation and three battle stars for World War II service, five battle stars for the Korean War service and four campaign stars for Vietnam War service, according to navsource.org.

Through contacts in Washington, D.C., Ward said the former crew members have learned that getting a ship named usually requires congressional support.

He said they have contacted Austin Gillette, a Vietnam veteran and former Three Affiliated Tribes' chairman and longtime tribal council member from White Shield, and Marilyn Hudson of Parshall about their interest to have a ship named for the tribe. Several years ago Gillette and Hudson, then administrator of the Three Tribes Museum near New Town, helped the former crew members who served on the USS Arikara between 1965-1971, organize a reunion on Fort Berthold Reservation. During the reunion in June 2012, former crew members, many who served on the USS Arikara during the Vietnam War, met members of the tribe that their ship was named in honor of.

Ward said Fred Fox, of White Shield, East Segment councilman to the tribal business council, has been advised of their new initiative to name a ship for the tribe.

He said they are asking the tribe's members to contact their senators and congressman - Senators John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer and Congressman Kelly Armstrong - for assistance in the former crew members' endeavor.

"Several members of the crew have already written to their respective congressional delegations to support naming one of the new ships in honor of the Arikara tribe and people," Ward added.

Ward said the Arikara people, who are "intensely patriotic," have had an overwhelming impact on the ship's crew.

After that first reunion on Fort Berthold, crew members have returned to White Shield as guests of the tribe for that community's powwow and for other occasions.

"For many crew members who served on the ship in Vietnam, coming "home" after the war and after the ship was decommissioned in 1971 was not a reality until the Arikara people welcomed them home just a few years ago. Attending the powwows and spending time with the Arikara people has been a life-changing event for many crew members. The least we can do to support these crew members and to be grateful to the Arikara people is to get a new ship named in the tribe's honor," Ward said.