Fort Huachuca During WWII
Minority Service Members:
Apache Scouts
Marker:
Panel 5: One of five commemorative panels honoring minority service members
Location:
Fort Huachuca
Please refer to the visitors’ guide for information about visiting these markers at Fort Huachuca.
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Panel Images and Text
(title) Apache Scouts:
(Body) In 1941, only eight Indian Scouts remained in the U.S. Army. All eight were Apache. The Scouts patrolled the Fort’s boundaries, were guides for surveying parties and served in ceremonies. They remained rugged individualists to the end, preferring to be separate from the barracks, living in traditional Apache wikiups. The Indian Scouts were disbanded in 1947.
Image Captions:
(Left) Above: 28 August 1947. Retirement ceremony of the last four U.S. Army Indian Scouts at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.
An image of four men in uniform, at attention, and a fifth man shaking hands with one of the men. A 48-star U.S. flag is waving in the background.
(Courtesy of the Fort Huachuca Museum)
Left: Indian Scouts sharing their traditional oral stories with school children.
Several men wearing traditional clothing stand at the left facing a group of seated children. What appears to be a cannon is behind the children. Trees and white buildings are in the background.
(Courtesy of the Huachuca Museum Society)
(Center) Top to Bottom: Sgt Riley on right instructing Scouts.
A group of four men in uniform are gathered on a hillside listening to a fifth service member.
(Courtesy of National Archives)
Fort Huachua Indian Scouts Passing in Review.
Six mounted adults in formation follow a seventh rider who appears to be saluting.
(Courtesy of The Apache Sentinel, Library of Congress)
Indian Scouts during maneuvers.
Two men in uniform are kneeling or lying at the top of a rocky promontory, looking out at the scene. A juniper tree and hills are behind them.
(Courtesy of National Archives)
Indian Scouts on Patrol.
Four men in uniform climb single-file up a hillside. Each appears to be carrying a rifle, Hilly terrain is in the background.
(Courtesy of National Archives)
(Right) Back Row (left to right): 1st Sgt. Charles Battle, M.P., and Sgt John C. Yates, M.P.
Front Row (left to right): Deputy Sheriff Clell Lee of Cochise County and Sgt. S. L. Riley
Sgt. S. L. Riley, Indian Scout and “tracker extraordinaire” shown here on special ops mission with Deputy Sheriff Clell Lee, along with 1st Sgt. Charles Battle, M.P., and Sgt. John C. Yates, M.P., both expert marksmen from Fort Huachuca. This quartet were to bring in the German POWs who escaped from Papago Military Installation in Phoenix, Arizona.
(Courtesy of National Archives)
Marker Date:
2024
Dedicated:
April 25, 2024
Sponsor:
Arizona State Society, DAR
To continue the walking tour, please return to the visitors’ guide.
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Unless otherwise noted, images are courtesy of Arizona State Society, DAR, Daughters.