Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
2006
Abstract
No One Ever Asked Me is the memoir of a rather typical American Indian veteran of World War II. Like most of the 25,000 Native American servicemen, Hollis Stabler was not a code talker. His reasons for enlistment mirrored the diverse motivations found among Indians spread across the Great Plains and Southwest, and the acceptance he received from non-Indians and his record of service were equally representative. Common to most Native American servicemen, Stabler walked in two worlds. His spirit was that of an Omaha Indian, and he cherished his cultural values and traditions; his daily existence, however, was in the non-Indian world. The wartime blending of these two worlds and Stabler's postwar choice between assimilation and retrenchment into his tribal community are the heart of the book-themes common to most Indian servicemen. Stabler's voice is the book's strength, and his experiences and perspective from prewar posting in San Francisco through bloody combat operations in North Africa, Sicily, and France make this a book to read.
Comments
Published in GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY 26:4 (Fall 2006). Copyright © 2006 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.