Vincent Schilling - Native Men of Courage: Revised

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Schilling, Vincent

Title: Native men of courage / Vincent Schilling.

Description: Revised edition. | Summertown, Tennessee : 7th Generation, [2016] | Series: Native voices

Identifiers: LCCN 2016015521 (print) | LCCN 2016015876 (ebook) | ISBN 9781939053169 (pbk.) | ISBN 9781939053848 (E-book)

Subjects: LCSH: Indians of North AmericaBiographyJuvenile literature.

Classification: LCC E89 .S13 2016 (print) | LCC E89 (ebook) | DDC 920/.009297dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016015521

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced by any means whatsoever, except for brief quotations in reviews, without written permission from the publisher.

Cover and interior design: John Wincek Stock photography: 123 RF

Printed in the United States of America

7th Generation

a division of Book Publishing Company

PO Box 99

Summertown, TN 38483

888-260-8458

bookpubco.com

ISBN: 978-1-939053-16-9

21 20 19 18 17 16 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

This book is dedicated to Michael Bucher, a true champion and a great person filled with courage, who inspires so many. Nia:wen for everything you give to this world.

(ONONDAGA AND SENECA)

(MTIS)

(SYCUAN RESERVATION)

(ALEUT)

(OJIBWE)

(CHEYENNE)

(MOHAWK)

(INNU)

(MANDAN AND HIDATSA)

(CHOCTAW)

So many people contribute to the process of creating a book. I would like to thank every one of them and I will do my best to do so. If I have forgotten anyone, it does not mean anything other than a human error. My gratitude felt toward their efforts is genuine.

First, thank you to my wife, Delores Schilling. She is my greatest supporter and wise beyond her years. There can never be enough words to express my thanks. This book is as much because of you as me. I love you, Delores.

Second, thank you to everyone at Book Publishing Company. Without the help and input of Jerry Hutchens, Bob Holzapfel, Warren Jefferson, Anna Pope, Kathleen Hanson, and others at BPC, gifts to the world such as Native Men of Courage would never materialize. Because of your efforts, many lives can change for the better.

Thank you to my family, my father Ray Schilling, and the mother who raised me, Mary Schilling. I also thank my wifes family, who have always taken me under their wing. Thank you Sharon, Mary, and Parker.

During the process, there have been those who supported and lent their efforts to help make this book possible. Thank you to Dann Boyko, Rene Ball, and Margie Long of the Virginia Beach Police Department; Al Fleming of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples; and Dave Devendorf and Nancy Tierney, staff members to Senator Campbell.

But thank you most of all to the courageous men in this book who gave their time so that I could write their stories, in the hope of changing and helping the lives of so many. I am forever grateful to you and what you do.

Oren Lyons:

courtesy of Skaruianewah Logan

Tony Belcourt

All photos courtesy of Tony Belcourt

Golden Eagles Hotshots

All photos and cover photo courtesy of Vincent Schilling

Larry Merculieff

All photos courtesy of Larry Merculieff

Frank Abraham

All photos courtesy of Frank Abraham

Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell

courtesy of Senate photographer George Dalton Tolbert IV

courtesy of Roni Sylvester

courtesy of the Campbell family

Cover photo credit unknown

Tom Porter

All photos courtesy of Tom Porter

Stanley Vollant

All photos courtesy of the Vollant family

Raymond Cross

courtesy of Todd Goodrich

courtesy of the Cross family

Mark Bowman

courtesy of Mark Bowman

What defines courage? I have heard many explanations of courage in my life. General George S. Patton said that courage is fear holding on a minute longer and that definition has always stayed with me. I have done courageous things in my life and I have held my breath while I did them, but I usually didnt realize what I had done was courageous until the moment passed. I was certain about one thing though: I was scared and it took a lot of courage to finish what I needed to do.

When the opportunity came to write a book about courageous men, I became excited. Now was my chance to meet some real heroes. In the midst of my interviews for the book, I found myself in situations I never would have thought possible. I went to Washington, DC, to meet with retired senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell. I accompanied then-police lieutenant Mark Bowman in his patrol car as he surveyed his precincts in Virginia Beach. I also found myself on the front lines of a forest wildfire in Marion, North Carolina, to interview chief Raymond Ruiz and members of the Golden Eagles Hotshots. I remember thinking to myself many times: Now these are definitely men of courage!

I recently returned to Washington, DC, when I was invited to a historic event, the renewal of the Treaty of Canandaigua between the US government and the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. The treaty-honoring ceremony was held in the Eisenhower Buildings Indian Treaty Room and was attended by Oren Lyons and about fifty tribal leaders, representatives, and clan mothers of the Haudenosaunee. It was an honor to witness a treaty renewal that has taken place annually for 222 years.

It is hard to imagine the situations the courageous men in this book have found themselves in. Their experiences are truly mind-blowing. Tony Belcourt has affected the lives of thousands of Canadas Mtis people. Ben Campbell has had his nose broken nine times in his quest to become a better judo competitor, and he has taken part in decisions that affected an entire nation. The Golden Eagles Hotshots and Mark Bowman have entered into the line of danger every day of their working lives.

I talked to men who have faced darkness and arose truly triumphant. Stanley Vollant faced incredible racism and fought his worst fears to become a leading surgeon in Ottawa, Canada. As chief, Frank Abraham spoke out against some of his Ojibwe relatives in his quest for justice. Attorney Raymond Cross went up against the federal government to fight for his own people because he felt it was the only way they would regain the rights and resources that had been promised to them.

All these men are courageous. Some fought, some resisted, and some spoke out, but regardless of their physical actions, they listened to their hearts and acted in accordance with what they knew was right. All these men are warriors.

To speak to such a group of men has been an incredible honor. And to learn from their words does not compare to any experience I have ever had. They changed my perspectives on many things in my life, and for that I am eternally grateful.