Ich beginne mit The Ballad of Ira Hayes

Eine spektakuläre Einführung in die Geschichte der Nativen Bewohner Amerikas.




Am 19. Februar 1945, Hayes nahm an der Landung auf Iwo Jima.
He then participated in the battle for the island and was among the group of Marines that took Mount Suribachi five days later, on February 23, 1945.
Er nahm an der Schlacht um die Insel teoö und war einer der Gruppe von Marines, die Mount Suribachi fünf Tage später, am 23. Februar 1945.
Nach dem Krieg, Hayes versuchte, ein normales Leben führen, ohne Erfolg.

"I kept getting hundreds of letters. And people would drive through the reservation, walk up to me and ask, 'Are you the Indian who raised the flag on Iwo Jima'?"

"Ich habe Hunderte von Briefen bekommen. Und die Menschen sind zu Fuß bis zu mir gekommen und fragten 'Sind Sie der Indianer, der hat die Flagge auf Iwo Jima'gehißt hat`? Er sprach nur selten über die Setzung der USA-Flagge.

Am 24. Januar 1955, Hayes Todestag, er lag mit dem Gesicht nach unten in seinem eigenen Erbrochenem und Blut, in der Nähe einer verlassenen Hütte nahe seiner Wohnung auf der Gila River Indian Reservation.

Eines von vielen Schicksalen, die den Indianern in den USA widerfahren sind. Sie haben für ihr Land und um ihr Land gekämpft und wurden am Ende allein gelassen.
Aus diesem Grunde habe ich mit IRA HAYES diesen Blog begonnen.

Denn das Leben der Indianer in den USA ist nicht nur ein Traum - wie wir in aus den Filmen mit dem herrlichst inspirierenden Federschmuck - oftmals begleitet sie die übertragenen Pflichten ihrer Urväter bis ans Ende ihrer Tage und dies mit Stolz.







Lyric: "The Ballad Of Ira Hayes"


Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

Gather round me people there's a story I would tell
About a brave young Indian you should remember well
From the land of the Pima Indian
A proud and noble band
Who farmed the Phoenix valley in Arizona land

Down the ditches for a thousand years
The water grew Ira's peoples' crops
'Till the white man stole the water rights
And the sparklin' water stopped

Now Ira's folks were hungry
And their land grew crops of weeds
When war came, Ira volunteered
And forgot the white man's greed

Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

There they battled up Iwo Jima's hill,
Two hundred and fifty men
But only twenty-seven lived to walk back down again

And when the fight was over
And when Old Glory raised
Among the men who held it high
Was the Indian, Ira Hayes

Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

Ira returned a hero
Celebrated through the land
He was wined and speeched and honored; Everybody shook his hand

But he was just a Pima Indian
No water, no crops, no chance
At home nobody cared what Ira'd done
And when did the Indians dance

Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

Then Ira started drinkin' hard;
Jail was often his home
They'd let him raise the flag and lower it
like you'd throw a dog a bone!

He died drunk one mornin'
Alone in the land he fought to save
Two inches of water in a lonely ditch
Was a grave for Ira Hayes

Call him drunken Ira Hayes
He won't answer anymore
Not the whiskey drinkin' Indian
Nor the Marine that went to war

Yeah, call him drunken Ira Hayes
But his land is just as dry
And his ghost is lyin' thirsty
In the ditch where Ira died