"…the doctor told me to stop prepping him. ‘He won’t live more than a few minutes,’ he said. I didn’t know, I had just gotten there (Vietnam). He had burns over 80% of his body…they just moved him (to the side). I wasn’t going to let him die alone, so I sat with him and he started talking, you know, like ‘will I be ok’? Then he asked me ‘…tell my wife that I died OK.’ I still have flashbacks to that moment when I smell something like burnt skin."

Helping and caring for others is in Jack’s blood. "My Great Great Grandfather was Chief and Medicine Man of the Mississippi Band of Chippewa Indians. Grandmother practiced the Indian ways as a midwife in Hayes, Montana and took me along when she gathered medicine herbs and roots." Jack followed the healing ways of his ancestors with two tours as an Army Medic in Vietnam, a teacher at the Chemawa Indian School, and as a VA Counselor. While suffering from Post Traumatic Syndrome, Jack found many other Indian Veterans also suffering from PTSD and not receiving help. Taking action, he educated himself about PTSD and co-founded the Northwest Indian Veteran’s Association in 1989 and has dedicated his life to doing what his Grandmother taught him "…to love our family and to care for others."

Thank you Jack for your continued dedicated service.