Commissioner Louis R. Bruce of the Department of the Interiors Bureau of Indian Affairs today announced that the United States Army has installed the first Army Junior ROTC unit at an all-Indian school at Fort Sill Indian School, Lawton, Oklahoma. The ceremony was held in the gymnasium of the Fort Sill School at 10 a. m., CDT.
Fort Sill Indian School has an enrollment of about 300 students, of whom about 125 are boys. Indian tribes represented include the Fort Sill Apache, Kiowa, Comanche, Caddo, Delaware, and Wichita, all southern Oklahoma groups.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department of the Interior were represented by William L. Rogers, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Land Management. Lieutenant General Patrick F. Cassidy, Fifth U.S. Army Commanding General, presented the Army Junior ROTC contract to Eddie Lara, President, Fort Sill Indian School Board, a Kiowa Indian and an Army veteran of the Korean War.
Both the invocation and benediction for the ceremony were delivered in Indian languages by prominent religious leaders of various Oklahoma' Indian tribes. Master of Ceremonies was Jack B. Williams, Superintendent.
Master Sergeant Jimmie R. Holder, a Delaware Indian with more than 18 years active Army service and senior enlisted instructor of the new Junior ROTC unit, was present at the ceremony.
