No One Ever Asked Me: The World War II Memoirs of an Omaha Indian Soldier (review)

Unable to find a steady job following his high school graduation, Hollis Dorian Stabler volunteered for the U.S. Army in 1939. He took part in the Operation TORCH assault against Safi, Morocco, and later served in the invasion of Sicily. Wounded twice during the Anzio campaign, Stabler recovered in time to see action during the August 1944 invasion of southern France. A Ranger, commando, and member of the storied Second Armored Division, he would receive four Bronze Stars, a Silver Star, and a Purple Heart. Following his military discharge, he married, got a job with Boeing, used his veteran's benefits to buy a home in Wichita, Kansas, and eventually became a teacher and school counselor.

Stabler's exploits and experiences, dramatic and important in their own right, are made even more interesting in light of his Omaha Indian heritage. Using oral interviews, written memoirs, and personal papers, collector-editor Victoria Smith has produced an outstanding collaborative biography of Stabler. As a specialist in Native American studies, Smith naturally approaches her subject from the perspective of an American Indian who happened to be a soldier, rather than vice-versa. Although the resulting annotations and supporting notes are more substantive on Indian than military affairs, Smith's expertise was essential in transforming the Native American's circular stories into the more linear form expected by a broader readership, even while insuring that Stabler's voice remains the project's focus.

Military historians will nonetheless find No One Ever Asked Me to be of great value, as four of seven chapters focus on Stabler's Second World War experiences. Tank mechanic, company barber, radioman, truck driver, and combat infantryman, Stabler offers honest, vivid accounts of the entire range of his military career. He lost, by his own admission, at least two rifles, and helped to recover his brother Robert's body during the fighting at Cisterna, Italy. When recounting his having killed an enemy soldier shortly thereafter, Stabler explained, "That shot was for Bob, you know" (p. 86). His descriptions of his noncombat experiences—especially regarding alcohol and prostitutes—are equally candid, and will prove a good source for those seeking earthy quotations describing the reality of life behind the lines.

Stabler's observations of racial and ethnic relations are also worthy of special note. Like his parents, Stabler lived most of his life among a society dominated by whites. He took a philosophical view of his personal relations with his fellow soldiers. "Some individuals I did not get along with," acknowledged Stabler, "and we came to blows and it got to the cussing stage. But it was few and far between, and nobody got hurt" (p. 25). Yet he remained proud of his heritage, going out of his way to seek out fellow Native Americans in the service and pointing out that after his return to the United States he was not allowed to drink a beer in the Omaha railroad station bar even while still wearing his uniform. Explained Stabler, "it made me wonder what I'd been fighting for" (p. 122).