10 JULY 1,2013
Smoke Signals
Powwow to Duoirooir three Tirilbal WWU vets
By Hon Kartcn
Smoke Sinnln luff u riter
The f J rand Hondo Veterans Spe
cial Kvents Hoard will honor three
Tribal World War II veterans dur
ing this year's Marcellus Norwest
Memorial Veterans Powwow.
The three, now in their late 80s
and early 90s, joined as the war
ramped up for the United States.
Kugene Hudson, for instance, joined
10 days after the attack on I 'carl
Harbor on Dec. 7, 1911.
These veterans served with dis
tinction and honor, earning medals
and the respect of their Tribe.
Here, briefly, are the major de
tails of their service:
Eugene Hudson
Army: 1941-45
Tribal Klder Eugene Hudson, 92,
from a family of veterans, joined
the Army 10 days after the attack
on Pearl Har
bor, on Dec.
17, 1911. He
was 19.
He first
trained on
artillery, the
big guns,
specializing
in bringing
down enemy
ships.
"We could
tell by the
speed of the ships where we should
fire," he said.
Hudson started out in the 5th In
fantry Division and then toward the
end of the war he fought with the
10th Mountain Division. He fought
battles in Tunisia, Naples-Foggia,
7
-H: -
Eugene Hudson
Rome-Arno, the North Apennines
and Po Valley.
He earned the Good Conduct
Medal, American Theater Service
Medal, Victory Medal, European Af
rican Middle Eastern Service Medal
and Combat Infantry Badge.
In serving until the end of the
war, "almost four years to the day,"
Hudson did "all kinds of stuff," he
said.
His company followed the Air
Force "clear across North Africa,"
he said. "We had these big ma
chines that could tell us how many
planes were coming in, and how
fast they were coming."
He entered the war in Europe
with the D-Day invasion and re
placed troops in Italy, spending
almost three years there.
He fought across a lake from
Mussolini's palace.
Hudson was discharged as a Pri
vate First Class on Dec. 20, 1915,
at Fort Lewis, Wash.
Herman Hudson Jr.
Navy: 1942-45
Herman Hudson Jr., 88, nephew
to Eugene, went to high school in
Keizer and Salem until his junior
year at Salem's North High School,
when he joined the Navy.
"It was during the war, you know,
and that was what you did, I guess,"
he said. "My uncles that I was clos
est to went into the service, so I
did, too."
The Navy took Herman to the
South Pacific, where he said he was
on "the deck force." That means, he
said, he scrubbed the decks.
In the service, he also learned to
cut hair. The ship's regular barber
t :
Herman Hudson Jr.
was shipping
out, so he
taught Hud
son to cut
hair and the
Navy was a
good proving
ground. "Out
in the South
Pacific," he
said, "they
didn't care
much about
how their hair looked."
His ship escorted fleet oilers.
"We'd tie up alongside that oiler,
and I took my (hair cutting) box out
and put a can out if they wanted to
throw something in."
His younger sister, Gloria, who
was in the first grade when Hudson
joined the Navy, remembers "how
proud and happy I was when I had
my picture taken with him in his
sailor suit."
Allen (Biff) Langley
Navy, 1943-45
Allen (Biff) Langley, 87, and his
friend David Holmes, both members
of the Tribe, were playing hooky
from school the day they decided to
enlist to fight in World War II. That
very day, they found their way into
the Navy. Langley was 16.
"They wandered down the hall
way and the first office they went
into was the Marine recruiting
office, but no one was there," said
his daughter, Maxine. "Next down
the hall came the Navy recruiting
office, where there was a military
rep, and they signed up."
'They were hell-raisers," she said,
"the local cool guys as teens." They
wrecked four cars in their time.
Langley shipped out on the USS
Henderson 785, a troop transport,
serving in Guadalcanal in the Solo
mon Islands in the South Pacific.
They traveled to Pearl Harbor and
as far as Australia bringing troops
in, picking up wounded and burying
the dead.
"The other important thing we
did," he said in a memoir, "was
repair on-site war-damaged ships
and artillery."
He called it "fun" listening to
Tokyo Rose on the radio.
"I don't know how she knew what
she knew, but she always had the
latest up
dates on all
the battle
fronts and
troop move
ments." They also
played a lit
tle poker.
He con
tracted ma
laria during
the war and survived it, but toward
the end of his service the malaria
returned. He was sent to the Cush
man Indian Hospital in Tacoma,
Wash., where he met "the love of my
life," Louise Smith (Wasco), living
in Warm Springs. Langley still lives
there. He spent a lifetime working
as a logger in the woods.
Langley earned two medals dur
ing the war: one for participating in
the Asiatic Pacific Area Campaign
and the other, a World War II Vic
tory Medal.
"And he never told us about those
medals," said his daughter. B
JT -
kJj
Allen Langley
Smoke Signals receives General Excellence Award from NAJA
Smoke Signals, the bi-monthly
newspaper of the Confederated
Tribes of Grand Ronde, received the
coveted General Excellence award
from the Native American Journal
ists Association for the publication
year of 2012.
Smoke Signals received five
awards in the Division IV category,
including the top prize in General
Excellence for monthlybi-monthly
publications.
"Winning General Excellence is
truly an honor for our entire staff,"
said Publications Coordinator Dean
Rhodes. "From the story selection to
the writing, editing, photography,
layout, graphics and everything
else that goes into creating Smoke
Signals twice a month, the award
says we do it better than any other
Native publication in the country
in our circulation category. It's an
award everyone on staff and in the
Tribe can take pride in receiving."
"Congratulations to our winners
and to the entire team," said Public
Affairs Director Siobhan Taylor,
who supervises the Publications
Department. "It takes great edit
ing, design and support to get such
a winning combination. I commend
all of them for their dedication to
their craft and their commitment
to our Tribe."
In addition to General Excellence,
Smoke Signals took second place
in the Best Layout category for
monthlybi-monthly publications.
The award goes to Tribal Page De
signer Justin Phillips.
Smoke Signals staff writer Ron
Karten took second and third place
in the Associate-Best News Story
category for his feature on the Pad
dle to Squaxin Island and a profile
of Tribal member Chuck Williams,
respectively.
Tribal photojournalist Michelle
Alaimo took second place in the
Associate-Best Photo category for
her photograph "Log Crawl" from
last year's Spring Break at Camp
Westwind.
Awards were announced June 26
and will be given out during the as
sociation's annual conference being
held July 18-21 in Tempe, Ariz.
Education offers Chinuk Wawa classes
The Tribe's Cultural Education Department offers adult Chinuk Wawa lan
guage classes from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Monday and Wednesday in Room 207 of the
Tribal Education Building. Language classes can be taken for college credit or
fun. For more information, call 503-879-2249 or 503-437-4599. D
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Anna Jeffers pulls herself out from under a log at the log crawl event of an
obstacle course during Youth Education's Spring Break at Camp Westwind
in March 201 2. This photo took second place in the Associate-Best Photo
category in Division IV of the 20 1 3 Native American Journalists Association
Media Awards.
Help needed identifying plots
The Facilities Department is asking for your help identifying
veteran's plots.
If your family member's or friend's plot is a veteran and we do not
have a veteran's flag present on holidays, please inform us. We will
do our best to mark all plots of veterans. Contact Adam Leno at 503-879-5525
or adam.lenograndronde.org. B