Dear Editor

Dear Editor,

Based on the positive reaction to a previous Letter to the Editor that I wrote on the recent passing over of Kaherahere (Standing Corn Stalks) aka Edgar Jock, I will continue to relate some of the stories that involve this former WW2 combat veteran, cultural activist and lifelong Akwesasronon.

His final wishes were recorded for posterity by attending family members immediately before his departure from this life. He insisted on certain things being done, in a specific way. These wishes caused some awareness to be employed as the instructions were implemented.

For instance, Kaherahere requested to be laid out for his Longhouse funeral wearing a suit-coat and dress pants as opposed to a traditional ribbon shirt, while still appearing on a cradleboard. This request was accommodated by his family. Additionally, he requested several flags to be raised over his viewing area, including the purple Iroquois Confederacy “Hiawatha wampum” flag, but also including the American Legion flag and the United States flag (from the American Legion).

As the funeral opening was conducted in a traditional manner by skilled Kanien`keha speakers Kanaseraka and Ateronhiatakon, it was eventually explained to the Longhouse ceremony onlookers that the American Legion and United State flags were permitted to be displayed despite the objections of some who were concerned that the presence of the flags was non-traditional in a Kanien’keha:ka longhouse, and may even be confusing to young longhouse people who saw this.

The way that this was handled was that after the first day of the funeral was concluded, these foreign flags were removed from the longhouse viewing area, with all respect to the departed and his final wishes, but also in accordance to the nature of the longhouse ways. This was a peaceful resolution to a contentious issue. This episode fits perfectly into the overall legacy of Kaherahere as a modern Kanien’keha:ka man.

Incidentally, in front of one of the erected teepees that appeared on Jock Road to house visitors to the well-attended funeral of Kaherahere, a popular modified American flag was hung; red and white stripes intersected with a pipe-carrying Onkwehonweh man in the middle of the design. The teepee remained upright throughout the week’s events, I was later assured. Nor was it struck by any lightning.

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A review of the WW2 experience of this combat veteran from Akwesasne has been found in the military biography of U.S. Army General Creighton Abrams, for whom the vaunted modern Abrams tank is named.

Thunderbolt: From the Battle of the Bulge to Vietnam and Beyond: General Creighton Abrams and the Army of His Times, by Lewis Sorley, 1992, Simon and Schuster.

The book details the WW2 exploits of the 37th Tank Battalion of the 4th Armored Division, especially in the large-scale Battle of Arracourt, which preceded the decisive Battle of the Bulge, in which it also famously participated.

Training for the 4th Armored Division began at Camp Pine, New York (now Fort Drum) in April 1941 when the division was activated.

Following the D-Day invasion at Normandy in July 1944, the 37th Tank Battalion engaged in the nine-day Battle of Arracourt, which has been called the greatest tank battle of WW2 by some military historians. Colonel Abrams and his 37th Battalion bore the brunt of the September 1944 German armor attack, emerging victorious and destroying fifty-five enemy tanks, while losing fourteen U.S. Army tanks.

The 37th Battalion ran itself ragged in the historic Allied forces advance across France, finding itself in need of mechanical overhaul and replacement personnel, on the eve of the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. It was still fighting in the Saar region on the border between France and Germany 125 miles away from Bastogne, Belgium when the massive German armored counterattack began on December 16.

Summoned by Third Army commander General George S. Patton to assist surrounded American forces holding out against overwhelming German forces, the 37th Battalion covered 120 miles in fifteen hours, pushing their mechanized equipment to the limit.

Colonel Abrams, acting on his intuition, disobeyed orders to where his unit had been deployed, instead took an unlikely route to the key road network at Bastogne. The hunch paid off. Being at the right place at the right time was critical. The decision allowed the fast-moving medium tanks of the 37th Battalion lead element to reach the outgunned 101st Airborne Division paratroopers, despite having only ten tanks to relieve Bastogne. In the end, only four M-4 Sherman tanks actually made it there. Still, these men, including Edgar Jock, had saved that day, and had also shortened the war through the exhaustion of the counter-attacking German Army.

Much more could be said about the life of Edgar Jock. The world history in which he had played such an important part may seem a lifetime away. Another outcome of these years was seen closer to home. The seasoning of WW2 combat veterans from Akwesasne in foreign lands forever changed “the Land Where the Partridge Drums,” once the war ended. The horrors of war had empowered young Akwesasronon political leaders to step up to challenges ever-after, no matter the opposition. I feel that Kaherahere fit that bill in many ways himself, in examination of his own life.

Chaz Kader