A’AGA: Something to be Told or Talked About

March 20, 2026

Submitted By

Bill Allen

In February we honor a photograph that caught the moment a second, bigger flag was raised on Mt. Suribachi. Hope and courage to be looked at forever. It also showed an O'otham following himdag. Ira Hamilton Hayes was raised in Bapchule, a village which still retains a setting ideal for the telling of O'otham stories. Young boys were taught to sit straight and listen—behave respectfully.

When the Gila or Akimel flowed through our jeved, not just during heavy rains, O'otham raised a bounty of food crops. Indians who lived up in the mountains weren't so lucky. This time of the year, food was scarce or gone, too early for food to be gathered or planted. Therefore, a common practice was for these mountain Indians to come to our Akimel and take what they could. Hunger and cold made them aggressive. O'otham protected their food, livestock, and people. We became soldiers, defenders.

The Akimel O'otham recorded history by making marks/notches on a long stick. By touching and seeing the marks on the stick, old men told vivid details of past events. A translation of a Casa Blanca calendar stick had over 25 encounters within 32 years against the enemy, the last conflict in 1874.

The season of sitting and listening to O'otham creation stories has passed. The stories tell of the consequences of too much pride, greed, wrath, sloth, and so on. This was O'otham culture/himdag surrounding this future marine.

A change took place around 1900 when the river/Akimel was diverted. Ira Hayes' life also changed after his military service. Was he genetically prone to alcohol, depression, or what is now called PTSD? The trappings of praise, bond tours, and being singled out, so common in today's “look at me” attitude, were like a runaway horse. It was not O'otham.

Indian/Native American and American history have been intertwined since—and before—the Revolution. The same with O'otham history; the US wanted California during the Mexican American War. The Army of the West marched along the Gila and experienced our hospitality in 1846. It would take 7 years before land north of the Gila River became part of the United States. (173 years ago we would be in Mexico.)

On September 1, 1857, Yuma, Mohave, Tonto, and Yavapai warriors attacked a Maricopa/Piipaash village near al Aji/Pima Butte. O'otham helped. In 1865, about 192 Akimel O'otham and Maricopa/Piipaash scouts were mustered into military service for 1 year. Then the US Army decided to hire or enlist O'otham, Maricopa/Piipaash, and Mexicans to pursue the mountain O'otham or o:b. In 1910, regional conflicts in Mexico marked the beginning of the Mexican Revolution. Arizona did not have a standing national guard. Quickly, the Arizona National Guard formed Company F in 1912. Company F was an all-Indian unit of current and former students from the Phoenix Indian School, mostly O’otham and Maricopa/Piipaash.

When World War I was declared, the O'otham were sent to the Western Front. O'otham learned French to buy food; they liked the long loaves of bread and got used to the strong smell of garlic and wine in restaurants. Joshua Morris' lungs were burned badly by mustard gas, and he died shortly after returning home. Matthew B. Juan was cut down by enemy machine gun fire at the Battle of Cantigny, and as Wallace Anton reached the Western Front, he said, “Pegi ne'e. A 'at hegai t-gaghi.' 'Well, look. We have reached what we have been looking for.' He was killed 2 days BEFORE the Armistice.

When the US entered World War II, 24,000 Indians from reservations and 20,000 Indians living off reservations enlisted, including about 800 Indian women. Akimel O'otham 1LT Sam Thomas earned a battlefield commission in France but was denied the promotion. Gen. Patton learned of the oversight, and Sam Thomas was now a CPT. Jay Morago, Jr., became a sergeant with the Bushmasters. After the war, Captain Thomas and Sgt. Morago began Gila River Farms, made it profitable, and employed over 150 tribal members. The Alamo Scouts were a reconnaissance unit with O'otham, Sgt. Theodore T. Largo, and Joshua Sunn. SSG David Milda was killed in action in New Guinea in January of 1945.

When my mother took my grandmother to visit relatives, so did I. We often visited the home of Joe and Nancy, Ira's parents.  While the ladies talked, I was told not to go near a white building in the big yard. Ira's mother was a devout Presbyterian and refurbished the white building as a church. (A memorial flagpole stands at the Va'aki Church.) Later, I learned it was a barrack from the Japanese Relocation Camp, located south of Bapchule.

If Akimel water had not been diverted, Ira may have been a farmer growing wheat, alfalfa, or cotton. He may not have fallen into the 'wino culture.'

Natives defend our way of life/himdag. Knowing this, Ira enlisted when he was 19 years old.

March 19, 2025: A page celebrating Pfc. Ira Hayes hoisting a U.S. flag on Iwo Jima in 1945 was erased. It has been restored.

Thank you for your service, men and women—past, present, and future.