60 years later... Phillip Broncheau

[Walt's Daughter]

Got this from Don and Michael yesterday.

 

Marion,

 

After all these years "Chief" has a name. Phillip Broncheau and a decendant

from American Indian Royalty. Too bad he had to go so young, as did so many

others.

 

Thanks for all, Don Burgett

 

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Thank you Marion! I received it and sent a reply back

to Don. It was absolutely great and am happy to have

received it. I appreciate your assistance.

 

Keep up your pursuit in honoring our veterans.

 

Lim Lemt (Thank you)

Michael Finley

 

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Don,

 

Thanks ever so much for sharing Broncheau's story with me. I have the utmost respect for the like you, Broncheau, Earl "One Lung" McClung, and the rest of the troops, who sacrificed so much to give us the freedom we have today. It's unfortunate that so many war heros such as Broncheau get overlooked, but thanks to people such as yourself, they're not forgotten. I want you to know that his name will not be forgotten.

 

I am co-authoring a book on the prominent Chief Kamiakin. He was Palouse/Yakama Indian and his descendants moved to the Colville Reservation shortly before 1900. They intermarried extensively with the families of Chief Joseph and Moses. Phillip was somewhere in that ancestry, and likely descendant of those Indians who fought in the Nez Perce War or the Plateau Indians Wars of the 1850s.

 

They are a proud and brave group, just like the 506th, so it doesn't surprise me that your recollection of Phillip is that he was a brave and valiant man. He is buried in the same cemetery as Chief Joseph in Nespelem, Washington, literally feet away from him.

 

In my book we are adding an epilogue, or ending, in which we are honoring the descendants that came after Chief Kamiakin, Joseph and Moses. With your permission, I would like to use your account of Phillip in our book. From every account he seemed like the most magnificent person and deserves recognition.

 

Thanks again for sharing "Chief Broncheau's" story with me.

 

I look forward to hearing from you again. Earl "One Lung" McClung is in town (Inchelium) right now visiting relatives. He is half Colville Indian.

 

Lim Lemt (Thank you), Michael Finley