Contest Entry: The Thunderstick

By Dan Zimmerman

By Anonymous

Ben Takes the Gun was a 95-year old, full-blooded Oglala Lakota that lived on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He had a penchant for wearing cowboy hats and shirts, and wore his grayed waist-length hair in two braids. He was an old hunter and WWII veteran, in fact during the war Ben was inducted into the Code Talker program of the U.S. Army. He served in the Pacific with what he called the “Lakota Code Talkers,” men that transmitted tactical military information in their native language during engagements with the Japanese army . . .

At his age Takes the Gun was moving slower, his horse-riding days were behind him, but mentally he remained as sharp as an arrow. Since he was a fluent speaker of Lakota and well versed in the traditions of his people, there were many who sought him out for his knowledge. John “Strikes Many” Rondell was one such person.

The twenty-four year old Rondell lived off the reservation and was a student at Black Hills State University. He visited Takes the Gun on a solemn anniversary for the Lakota, their victory over General George Armstrong Custer and the U.S. Army that occurred on June …read more

Source:: Truth About Guns