Tuesday, February 11, 2025
34 F
Pawhuska
HomeCommunityJohn Henry Mashunkashey to be honored at state Capitol on May 4

John Henry Mashunkashey to be honored at state Capitol on May 4

Osage Veteran, John Henry Mashunkashey, was selected Veteran of the Week by the Oklahoma State Legisture and will be honored at the state Capitol on May 4.

He joined the Marines right out of high school, enlisting in 1965. He served until 1969 until he was honorably discharged as a Corporal E4. He was wounded on May 28, 1968 in the Battle of Khe Sanh where he served in the First I Corps. He was shot twice and survived a napalm explosion where he suffered severe burns, injuries and brain trauma. He spent a year-and-a-half in an Illinois military hospital and went through extensive physical therapy to use his legs to walk.

Of the experience he said, “Hey, I’m alive and that’s all that counts.”

Very passionate about the wellbeing of Osage veterans and their recognition, he has been instrumental to the Harold Bigheart Smalley American Legion Post 198, has helped with the Grayhorse War Mothers, Hominy War Mothers and the Ladies Auxiliary Unit of the American Legion Post 198.

He has served three years as the Commandant of the Department of Oklahoma Marine Corps League and he is also the Detachment Commandant for the Osage Detachment 669. He is a past American Legion Post 198 commander and proudly served in the U.S. Marines in the Vietnam War as a Marine Rifleman.

The Department of Oklahoma Marine Corps League of the southern division, which encompasses Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma, has also selected him as the 2015 Marine of the Year.

 


By

Shannon Shaw Duty


Original Publish Date: 2015-04-22 00:00:00

Author

Get the Osage News by email!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Shannon Shaw Duty
Shannon Shaw Dutyhttps://osagenews.org

Title: Editor
Email: sshaw20@gmail.com
Twitter: @dutyshaw
Topic Expertise: Columnist, Culture, Community
Languages spoken: English, Osage (intermediate), Spanish (beginner)

Shannon Shaw Duty, Osage from the Grayhorse District, is the editor of the award-winning Osage News, the official independent media of the Osage Nation. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and a master’s degree in Legal Studies with an emphasis in Indigenous Peoples Law. She currently sits on the Freedom of Information Committee for the Society of Professional Journalists. She has served as a board member for LION Publishers, as Vice President for the Pawhuska Public Schools Board of Education, on the Board of Directors for the Native American Journalists Association (now Indigenous Journalists Association) and served as a board member and Chairwoman for the Pawhuska Johnson O’Malley Parent Committee. She is a Chips Quinn Scholar, a former instructor for the Freedom Forum’s Native American Journalism Career Conference and the Freedom Forum’s American Indian Journalism Institute. She is a former reporter for The Santa Fe New Mexican. She is a 2012 recipient of the Native American 40 Under 40 from the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development. In 2014 she helped lead the Osage News to receive NAJA's Elias Boudinot Free Press Award. The Osage News won Best Newspaper from the SPJ-Oklahoma Chapter in their division 2018-2022. Her award-winning work has been published in Indian Country Today, The Washington Post, the Center for Public Integrity, NPR, the Associated Press, Tulsa World and others. She currently resides in Pawhuska, Okla., with her husband and together they share six children, two dogs and two cats.

RELATED ARTICLES

In Case You Missed it...

Upcoming Events