Yellow Bird: Woody Keeble a true American hero

Monday, March 5, 2007  

"As I stared outside at the snow swirling softly off the roof the garage, it all seemed so ordinary. And a vision of the amazing stories told to me about Woody Keeble came clear to me.

The story appeared in the Feb. 25 Prairie Voice. Keeble was a World War II and Korean War hero. (There is a detailed three-part story of Keeble in the “Soldier of Fortune” magazine by Galen Geer with research by Merry Helm.)

I followed Keeble through World War II and the Korean War from stories told by his stepson, Russell Hawkins, superintendent at Sisseton Agency, S.D.

As words tumbled out of his mouth, I was transfixed in the drama of the battle. In World War II, Woody was part of a battle to hold Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, a supply line for the Allies. Jim Fenelon, a Lakota man from Standing Rock, S.D., told Hawkins this about that battle.

Fenelon stayed close to Woody because he not only was a ferocious warrior but an excellent shot. When the battle was over, Fenelon said, they looked over a horrific sight of thousands of dead enemy.

As they stood in awe, three of the Japanese soldiers stood up from that mass grave with guns cocked, ready to fire. Fenelon said he couldn't react fast enough, but Woody, pulled a grenade and threw it right into the middle of these gunners. He saved his life, he said."

Get the Story:
Dorreen Yellow Bird: Warrior Woody: A true hero (The Grand Forks Herald 3/3)
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