Remembering Marine Private Jimmie Slim on His Birthday

Private Jimmie Slim

The Navajo have a distinguished military history, including the famous Code Talkers of World War II. Marine Private Jimmie Slim carried on that tradition, giving his life for his country in Vietnam on July 4, 1970. He was one of three Marines who drowned when swept away while crossing the Thu Bon River. Yesterday would have been his 67th birthday.

Jimmie was from Cow Springs, Arizona, about 60 miles from the soaring buttes of Monument Valley, an arid region of scrub vegetation and annual rainfall of about five inches. It’s hard to imagine a place more foreign to him than Vietnam, a land of monsoon rains, tropical forests, and a river where he drowned along with two other Marines.

 Jimmie is one of 226 Native Americans who died in Vietnam, and one of only two who died on the Fourth of July (PFC Ronald Myron Cloud is the other). According to the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command, more than 42,000 Native Americans fought in Vietnam, 90% of them volunteers.

My search for Jimmie’s family had hit a dead end after three months of research, but then I got a stroke of luck. I sent an email to Delores Hyden, library assistant at Tuba City High School, near Cow Springs, inquiring about genealogical resources in the area. Much to my amazement she replied that she knows someone who knows Jimmie’s sister, Viola Farrell.

A few days later, thanks to Ms. Hyden, I received an email from Leila Saganitso, who is a cousin to Viola. Leila put me in touch with Viola, in Tonalea, Arizona, who sent me her memories of her brother.

Viola wrote, “Jimmie was born April 28, 1948 on Black Mesa in a hogan with no running water, no electricity, and hardly any vehicle around; maybe about 40 miles away from the hospital. Our mother died in childbirth, and our dad wasn’t around.”

Viola and Jimmie were raised by their mother’s sister, Lola (they called her “Mom Lola”) and her husband, Lloyd. Viola wrote, “I remember Jimmie telling me that he wanted to help his Mom Lola in the future. Years later he died in Vietnam. I was just thinking about what he meant about helping his mom. Later mom and uncle started receiving Jimmie’s death benefit assistance.”

Viola recalls that when they were children, she and her cousin Daisy would make animals from mud. They hid them from Jimmie because, “He would play rough with them and break them, then put them back where he found them. When I got mad at him he would run to mom.”

When they got older, Jimmie and Viola herded sheep, riding double on horseback with Jimmie riding behind his sister. She said Jimmie was interested in the military from an early age, often “playing war” with his cousin Ned.

Jimmie attended Tuba City Boarding School in Arizona; Chemawa Indian School in Salem, Oregon; and Kayenta public schools near Monument Valley, Arizona.

Viola attended Sherman Indian School in Riverside, California and at various times Viola and Jimmie worked at the Grand Canyon. Jimmie played basketball in school and competed in bull riding at the rodeo.

Jimmie joined the Marines after high school. Viola was working in California when a cousin called with the news that Jimmie was missing in action, and then later she received word that he was dead. “That was the saddest day for all of us; we took it very hard,” Viola recalls.

Viola remembers the honor guard folding the flag at Jimmie’s funeral and giving it to their Mom Lola. “My mom knew that her son Jimmie died for his country,” she said.

Jimmie’s uncle Lloyd also died on the Fourth of July, in 1993, and his Mom Lola passed away November 28, 2013, Thanksgiving Day. Viola’s keepsakes of Jimmie include a Bible he gave to Lola and Lloyd, and the flag from Jimmie’s funeral.

Private Jimmie Farrell Slim is buried at the Tuba City Cemetery in Tuba City, Arizona.

The Patriotism of North Platte, Nebraska: From WWII to Vietnam

A brief stop in North Platte, Nebraska, today has me reflecting on two stories of patriotism – the North Platte Canteen of World War II; and Lance Corporal Dwight David Eisenhour, a local boy who was killed in Vietnam at age 20 on July 4, 1967.

My wife and I are driving from Salt Lake City back to our home in Michigan. Today we detoured through North Platte to see the site of the North Platte Canteen, where local people greeted and fed six million soldiers as they passed through town on troop trains during World War II. We have both read the book Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen by Bob Greene, and highly recommend it. The train depot is gone, but there’s a marker at the site of the canteen. There’s also a museum a few miles away, but it was closed at the time of our visit.

Lance Corporal Eisenhour is one of the men profiled in my book, Died on the Fourth of July. He grew up in North Platte and, despite the slight difference in spelling, was named for the World War II hero and future president, Dwight David Eisenhower. Dwight’s father served under Ike in Europe and named his son for the famous general. When Dwight was born in 1946, Ike sent the baby a signed photograph of himself, and 20 years later sent a letter of condolence when Dwight was killed in Vietnam.

As I stood at the Canteen site I wondered if perhaps young Dwight ever rode by the old depot on his bike with friends when he was growing up in North Platte. (I know from experience that train yards hold a special attraction for young boys.)

Leaving North Platte, we headed east on old U.S. Highway 30, the Lincoln Highway, to take a break from the 75-mph race on I-80. About 10 miles out of town we passed a sign pointing south to the Ft. McPherson National Cemetery. Twelve men from North Platte or Lincoln County died in Vietnam. Seven of them, including Dwight, are buried at Ft. McPherson. Four others are at cemeteries in North Platte, and one is at Arlington.

North Platte did its share in World War II, and again during Vietnam.