Excerpts

Chief Ralph Sturges Interview

“…I use to run an observation post on Fisher’s Island, and I would watch boats go out, and probably an hour later get a radio message that the boat had been sunk. The Germans use to operate right off of the coast here and they use to sink the ships, it was really something.”

“…Our group was all specialists, we were all specialists from different intelligence, it was an intelligence unit, our job was to collect information and also tell the other troops what to expect and all that. Our job was gathering information on the enemy, interrogating the enemy, and working closely with the other units.”

“I use to have maybe thirty-five or forty I use to write to and now there down to two. All I got is one, two, three, all I got is three that I have that’s all left, out of fifty-eight.”

“…The economy was booming, even though you couldn’t buy anything [laughs] there wasn’t anything to buy. You couldn’t buy butter or sugar or; everything like that was rationed.”

“You know where I was when the war ended? I was in the hospital. I was at Fort Devens, Mass. in the hospital. I came home from the war before the war ended before they dropped the bomb. I came home the same month, it was in August, and I left the Philippines in August and came home.”

“I’m the lifetime Chief. I’m one of the few chiefs in the country that’s recognized by the federal government, as a real Indian Chief.”

“…I remember, walking, if I was alone, like at night, you have a tendency to look over your shoulders. You have a tendency to wonder who’s around you. I don’t think you get over that for a long time. I think it’s just something that you built yourself into and then you don’t get out of it. I don’t do it now, but I don’t go out walking at night either [laughs].”