We Prayed For You

Each Sunday for a series of six weeks the constituency of the First Presbyterian church is holding an evening service at their house of worship on the hill north of Flandreau, where they pay special honor to their Indian young men and women who are serving in the armed forces of their country.

At each service there is designated a group of seven to be thus honored. Copies of a roster are prepared, carrying the caption “We Prayed for You,” and beneath each attendant at the service signs his name, then a copy is sent to each of the young people honored on that occasion.

Forty-two young Sioux are thus being memorialized over the six week period.

The three young ladies—Cora Eastman, Blanche Hillers and Ellen Weston—are serving in the Women’s Army Corps.

The list of young ladies will soon be supplemented by enlistment of Miss Inez Hillers, who will join the WASP. She has passed the required physical examination, will be inducted the 25th of July and about a week later will depart for Atlanta, Georgia, to take basic training. She expects to later be assigned to the first operational training unit of the ferrying division at Rosecrans Field, St. Joseph, Mo., going in as a teletype operator. The WASP’s are the women’s ferrying squadron of the air transport command.

Men of the group who are known to be overseas are Howard Flute, James Redwing, Sylvester Bird, Virgil Weston, Edward Dupree, Samuel Cavender, Harry E. Jones, Nathan Taylor, Theodore Taylor, Ralph Gullickson, Joseph Hillers, Rueben Robertson and Samuel Kitto.

Robert Weston and George Eastman, Jr. are in navy transport service.

This is a creditable number from what is a comparatively small community of Indians.

One young Indian gave his live for his country when Gordon Weston died as a result of injuries sustained while on duty in a camp in Texas.

A memorial issue of “Indians at Work,” official publication of the Office of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior, says that more Indians from South Dakota than from any other state have given their lives in service, and lists 13 who have thus made the supreme sacrifice. One of this number is Gordon Weston, son of Mr. and Mrs. Taylor Weston, who gave his life as a result of an accident while on duty in Texas. Eleven from South Dakota have been wounded in action.

The list of those who are honored at the service held weekly is as follows:

June 26—Howard Flute, Jean Redwing, Raymond Redwing, Sylvester Bird, Virgil Weston, Edward Dupree, Robert Weston.

July 2—George Eastman, Jr., Theodore Eastman, Keith Wakeman, George Allen, Clarence Couture, Samuel Cavender, Cora Eastman.

July 9—Harry E. Jones, John Allen Jones, Nathan Taylor, Theodore Taylor, Jonah Taylor, Ben Mireau, Eugene Mireau.

July 16—John A. Wakeman, Francis Wakeman, Thurman Wakeman, Kenneth Allen, Verne Allen, Frederick Redwing.

July 23—Albert Lovejoy, Guy Lovejoy, Warren Gullickson, Ralph Gullickson, Joseph Hillers, Blanche Hillers, Ellen Weston.

July 30—Sydney Beane, Robert Robertson, Rueben Robertson, Lawrence Posey, Harvey Ross, Roy Flood, Samuel Kitto