Smoke signals., February 01, 2001, Page 13, Image 13

FEBRUARY 1, 2001
Smoke Signals 13
Tribal Elder Jessie Bahr, photographed here last year at the Elder's Housing
dedication, now lives in Grand Ronde and couldn't be happier about it.
By Brent Merrill
hey say you can tell what
some people are thinking
when you look at their face
. 'wearing your emotions
on your shirt sleeve,' they call it.
When Tribal Elder Jessie Bahr, 79,
enters the room, it is easy to tell what
he is thinking by looking at his face.
If you attend events in Grand
Ronde, you have probably noticed
Bahr's face smiling at you. He's al
ways there and he always has a
smile, a laugh or a joke to tell.
Life wasn't easy for Bahr when he
was growing up. Taken from his
home when he was young, Bahr was
raised by his grandfather Jessie
A. Smith and he grew up in Falls
City.
"I was raised mostly by my grand
father, he's the one that raised me,"
said Bahr recently after lunch at the
Elder's meal site. "I was with him
until he passed away.. It was quite a
while ago. We cut wood and he sold
the wood. I helped him."
Bahr said he remembers cutting
the wood into neat, 12-inch pieces
that could be stacked in his
grandfather's model "T" Ford.
"That's how we made our living,"
said Bahr!
His grandfather also raised Bahr's
brother Harvey.
"Harvey was my brother that
passed away," said Bahr. Harvey is
buried in the Tribal cemetery. "We
used to call him 'Punkins' (Harvey).
He called me 'Benjamin.'
Bahr attended to school in Falls
City before entering the service at
age 19.
"I went to school in Falls City," said
Bahr. "You know where Teal Creek
is? There used to be a school back in
there. We used to live right on top of
the hill. That was where I went to
school all the way through eighth
grade. It took me a while to get to
finish eighth grade. I was an awnry
little kid. The teacher got mad at me
and said 'we are going to get you out
"of here.'" ""
Bahr was reluctant to leave home
and join the military, but like all
other young men of his time, he went.
"I registered for the service when I
was 19 years old (1941)," said Bahr.
"I went to Portland and Harvey went
with me."
Bahr said he and his brother were
separated and went into different
branches of the military. After go
ing to register in Portland, Bahr re
ceived a swift reply.
"It didn't take long and I got greet
ings from Uncle Sam," said Bahr. "I
knew I was going then. I didn't think
too much of it. I didn't want to go,
but there is no way you can get away
from that. I went to the examina
tion first. I was inducted at Fort
Lewis-(Washington); from there I
went to Little Rock (Arkansas)."
Leaving Polk County for the first
time in his life, Bahr said he was
wide-eyed. He said the best part of
' the military experience was getting
to see the United States and the
world. "I started going everywhere,"
said Bahr. "We went to Texas, to
Michigan and then Boston. Then we
got on the big boat the U.S.S.
Amsterdam. I didn't know where I
was going. They don't tell you where
you are going. We ended up in
Gladstone, England. That was still
when the war was going pretty big.
I was on that big Amsterdam for
months and then we went to Lon-.
don. It was still wintertime when we
were on that ship it was cold. We
stayed in Gladstone and then we
crossed the English Channel from
Marseilles (France).
Bahr served under General Eisen
hower and General Patton during
the war.
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Bahr (right) participated in the Veterans' Memorial groundbreaking
ceremony. Bahr entered the military in 1941 at age 19.
The best part of his time in service was getting to travel the world.
Being back home in Grand Ronde
makes Bahr happy. Talking about
his new place in the Elder's Housing
gets him to flash that brilliant smile
of his a smile that lets you know
exactly what he is thinking.
"I love it," said Bahr. "I'm getting
used to it."