Thank you,
Chief.

The man who built the modern tribe

Told by the State of South Carolina that there were no Indians here, he sued — and won. Out of that refusal he built a people: a Vietnam combat veteran and Chief Warrant Officer who came home, was denied a minority-business registration because his nation "didn't exist," and spent the next three decades making the state, and the country, admit that the Waccamaw were still here.

• The soldier. Twenty years in the U.S. Army — 82nd Airborne, Vietnam — awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart; retired a Chief Warrant Officer (WO‑3) in 1988. His service is preserved in the Library of Congress Veterans History Project.
• The founder. In 1992 he chartered the modern Waccamaw Indian People. On February 17, 2005 they became the first tribe recognized by the State of South Carolina.
• The civil-rights leader. He changed state law so a Native chief could perform a legal marriage, traded Columbus Day for Indigenous Peoples' Day in Myrtle Beach, and fought to bring more than 600 ancestral remains home from museum shelves.