Wes Studi: 'A True Warrior' │ U.S.Veterans Magazine
Category: News & Politics
Via: kavika • last year • 17 commentsBy: US Veterans and Military Magazine A US Veterans News Resource
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Lifestyle
By Brady Rhoades
Actor Wes Studi, who delivered a historic and stirring tribute to veterans at the 2018 Oscars, saw a generation of veterans return from Vietnam only to be cast aside by many of their countrymen and women.
He never wants to see that again.
That's why the Vietnam veteran, who starred in Dances with Wolves, The Last of the Mohicans, and Hostiles visits military bases and attends Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) conventions.
"It's almost intimidating because I don't know exactly how it is for them," he said. "I know what it was like for us… It was drummed into us to take care of yourself and take care of your buddies."
And it's why he urges citizens to support veterans.
"I think the thing you can do is be active politically and fix up the VA," he said.
Back in March, Studi became the first Native American presenter at the Oscars.
"As a veteran, I am always appreciative when filmmakers bring to the screen stories of those who have served," Studi said on stage. "Over 90 years of the Academy Awards, a number of movies with military themes have been honored at the Oscars. Let's take a moment to pay tribute to these powerful films that shine a great spotlight on those who have fought for freedom around the world."
Photo: BEVERLY HILLS, CA - Chief Phillip Whiteman Jr., Lynette Two Bulls, Byron Allen, Christian Bale, Carolyn Folks, Scott Cooper, Q'Orianka Kilchar, Rory Cochran and Wes Studi attends the premiere of "Hostiles" (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Audience members and viewers saw clips from famous films.
The 90th annual Academy Awards were memorable for many reasons, but the most talked-about moment might have been when Studi, who is Cherokee, concluded his address in Cherokee.
Veterans appreciated it. Native Americans appreciated it. Veterans who are Native Americans really appreciated it.
"Both groups hadn't gotten much mention at the Oscars," said Studi, 70. "Some people feel like they've been forgotten, left out of the process."
Studi was inundated with emails and letters. Social media erupted. One woman on Twitter said, "A proud moment and true role model for our youth … a true warrior."
Wes Studi was born in a Cherokee family in Nofire Hollow, Oklahoma, a rural area in eastern Oklahoma, where Cherokees have lived since the Trail of Tears. He is the son a housekeeper and a ranch hand. Until he attended elementary school, he spoke only Cherokee. He attended Chilocco Indian Agricultural School for high school and graduated in 1964; his vocational major was in dry cleaning.
At 17, Studi enlisted in the Oklahoma National Guard and worked through Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training at Ft. Polk, Louisiana.
Studi volunteered for active service and went to Vietnam with A Company of the 3rd Battalion 39th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division. He served 12 months in Vietnam.
Those 12 months changed his life.
"I discovered what being in combat is," he said. "What sticks out most is you're with your buddies and you're going to take care of each other."
He remembers the terror and violence of war, but also the natural beauty of Vietnam and the joys of friendship.
"There's a resilient spirit in human nature," he said. "You're going to enjoy yourself no matter the situation."
He also recalls that the U.S. military could not have cared less about his—or anyone else's—ethnicity. He was a soldier.
"I was treated well," he said. "The fact that I was Cherokee didn't have anything to do with anything."
Photo: ORLANDO, FL Wes Studi, Joel David Moore, Sam Worthington, Stephen Lang, James Cameron, Zoe Saldana, C. C. H. Pounder, Sigourney Weaver and Laz Alonso attends the Pandora The World Of Avatar Dedication (Photo by Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images)
After his discharge, he became an activist for Native American causes and tried making a living in many ways, including bull riding. In hindsight, he realizes that the war had awakened in him the need to confront fear and to feel the rush of adrenaline that comes with conquering your fears.
A friend convinced him to get involved in community theater. It didn't take much coaxing. Theater was a good place to meet women, his friend told him. It turned out to offer even more than that.
"What I saw in community theater was you could learn your lines and do rehearsals and all of that, but finally opening night shows up and you're in the wings and I rediscovered that huge wall of fear," he said. "And to me, that provided excitement."
It took him years of toil and sweat, but he broke into Hollywood with a role in The Trial of Standing Bear in 1988. His acting career had lifted from the launch-pad. His star burst brightly in the 1990s; movie-goers came to know him as a proud and fierce warrior in Dances and Mohicans.
Thirty years after making his screen debut, Studi was standing in front of 50 million-plus viewers, worldwide, at the Oscars.
He was coming off the 2017 release of Hostiles, in which he plays Chief Yellow Hawk, an aging, ailing Cheyenne warrior who—sometime in the 1890s—is escorted back to his tribal home in Montana by Capt. Joseph Blocker, played by actor Christian Bale.
Michael Ordona of Common Sense Media reviewed the movie and was impressed by one unexpected aspect of it.
"The most original thing about Hostiles is its rare depiction of PTSD in the Old West," Ordona wrote. "Here, Bale and his lieutenant (Rory Cochrane) play soldiers who've been at it too long, seen too much, and done too many things they can't really justify. When one confesses he's got 'the melancholia,' it's dismissed out of hand—just as the idea that war and a life of violence can cause injuries that can't be seen wasn't widely accepted until fairly recently. As Blocker, Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi) and Rosalie share dangers and develop trust, the film's theme of how a traumatic existence can change people—and yet the good in them might still prevail—becomes clear."
According to the Wounded Warrior Project, about 400,000 veterans of battles in Afghanistan and Iraq live with the invisible wounds of war, including combat stress, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), depression and PTSD. The United States Department of Veterans Affairs has conducted studies that show there are 22 veteran suicides a day, or about 8,000 a year.
We've come a long way since the Old West. But we've got a long way to go, Studi said. "We've got to find assistance for people with PTSD and other conditions," he said.
He added that we've got to do more than thank veterans for their service (although that's always appreciated). Veterans, especially those who've been wounded and traumatized, need above all hope, and hope is realized when they see marked improvements in their lives.
"It's pretty simple," he said. "Support anything that has to do with the betterment of veterans."
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Wes Studi is, Native American, Vietnam Vet, Actor, Activist, and Academy Award Winner.
Wes gives his time to veterans groups, visits the troops and most of all supports them and lends his name and time our cause.
wes is in one of my favorite scenes in dances, the arrow shirt scene. thanks for a few movies to add to my watch list.
Check out the short film Ronnie BoDean, he is a real character in that one.
thanks, I will. hasn't he been in reservation dogs too?
I believe that he has been in a couple of episodes of Reservation Dogs.
Wes Studi was in 3 episodes of Reservation Dogs (2020-2021): Run, The Curse and Come Get Your Love as Bucky.
Bucky, yup ''come get your love'' by Redbone.
Great tune!
I love the guy as an actor. I didn't know that he was a Vietnam Vet. Now I like him even more
Wes Studi with the 39th Infantry in the Mekong Delta and ''Plain of Reeds''. My understanding is that he is a pretty good guitar player as well as being a outstanding actor and human being.
Was an extra in two of Wes's films (Broken Chains, Last of the Mohicans), worked with he and an organization called TRIO (federal outreach and student services programs in the United States designed to identify and provide services for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds) and, got to meet him again in Albuquerque at the Cracker Barrel with our friend and buddy Grump.
Wes is an outstanding example of what most of us could/can be and what we can achieve by putting people first and always having their backs - a true "Warrior's" experience.
I've never had the chance to meet him, which I would love to do.
"Ogichidaa "he who stands between evil and the people.
Morning...it is ANZAC day dawn here in Australia and New Zealand...one of the most important days on our calendars.
ANZAC..(Australia and New Zealand Army Corps).
Back in WW1 our troops landed in Turkey at Gallipoli sent by the Brits who got the location wrong...the Turks were waiting for us...hence a whole sale slaughter evolved for months as we dug in and held on confronted with towering cliffs at the Cove..the Turks held steady and finally after thousands lost the ANZACS were evacuated and many ended up at the Somme in France.
The legend of the ANZACS was born and the bravery and tenacity of Aussies and Kiwis remain to this day. We have always got each other's backs.
They have all gone now....the ANZACS.. they have turned into the mists of time and walk among their lost mates in Turkey and France and many other countries.
We have not forgotten them nor ever will...
Lest We Forget..🇦🇺🇳🇿
The battle of Lone Pine which was five days of the most brutal fighting one can imagine. The Anzacs and the Turks asked no quarter and gave no quarter.
Simpson and his donkey
A very famous statue in Australia of Simpson and his donkey carrying the wounded down from the hill to the beach.
I believe that I told you that in 1990 the Australian government sent a planeload of Anzacs, all of them quite old at that time from Sydney to Turkey to meet with their old adversaries on that memorial day (s).
My wife and I saw the plane off at Sydney Airport and keep up with the news while they were in Turkey.
A SALUTE to the ANZACS.
Morning Kavika...yes you did say you saw them off and that in many respects would have been truly moving for everyone...I recall watching them on TV heading over to Turkey and wandering the cliffs of Gallipoli...
Many stories and legends have been told about the ANZACS here, Simpson and his donkey but one...many lost for all time now unfortunately...
Turkey has always looked after our fallen over there, far from home in foreign soil..we have a mutual bond with them in that respect and it is still strong to this day...
Indeed they do and I remember quite clearly when they interviewed both Turks and Anzac together the mutual respect they had for each other.
I remember being at the airport that day and you could feel the emotion in the air. Everyone there was overcome with the emotion of it all including me.
Shona, here is a link to photos taken on ANZAC Day 2023. There are some stirring and emotional ones in the mix.