| Biographical Non-Fiction posted May 1, 2022 |
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An artist's story.
The Creator's Hand
by Terry Broxson
I have been interested in and appreciative of Native American art for many years, especially paintings and pottery.
The title of this story is also the title of the artwork in the picture next to the story. It certainly appears that some hand has guided this artist's life. I will tell you the story. You decide.
The artist's name is David Chethlahe Paladin. He was born in 1926 and died in 1984. His mother was a Navajo on the Arizona Reservation. His father was a caucasian Roman Catholic Priest. Shortly after his birth, his mother became a nun.
Chethlahe is his Najavo name. It means Little-Turtle-Who-Cries-In-The-Night. The Navajo elders added Paladin's last name because he lived on the Paladin Mesa on the Navajo Reservation. There was no record of how he got the name, David.
For the most part, David lived with members of his mother's clan. But he was sent off the reservation to the Santa Fe Indian School. His cousin Joe Wilson, a full-blooded Navajo, was also at the school. The teacher told a story about Chicago one day. The following day the cousins, about ten years old, hitchhiked to Chicago.
In Chicago, they mostly ate doughnuts and sardines. When they got down to the last can of sardines, Joe took the little key that opened the can, detached it, and threw it away. The boys now had only one unopened can of sardines.
David and Joe went into a restaurant and said, "We haven't eaten in three days, and we can't open this can. Will you help us?" The boys ate well that night.
They used the sardine gimmick at several more restaurants before finally being put on a bus back to the school.
This pattern of running off was a constant for them. In 1938, at age twelve, David and Joe took off for San Francisco. At the Embaracadero, they stowed away on a ship that would eventually dock in Australia. They became friends with a young German named Ted Keck on the ship. World War II started, and Ted thought it best to jump ship. He was afraid that being German might get him arrested.
The two cousins, David and Joe, would bum around the south seas. When the United States entered the war in December of 1941, David and Joe were picked up in the Admiralty Islands by authorities and asked about what they observed while they were on the south seas.
The "intelligence" officers thought these two 15-year-old boys might make excellent spies. After all, they lived on their own and were doing okay. So, they joined the OSS, the Office of Strategic Servies. Eventually, the OSS would become the CIA.
David was trained in how to steal planes and blow up safes. The OSS transported him to Europe and airdropped him behind enemy lines. It was only a matter of time before he was arrested and charged with espionage.
David was sentenced to death and sent to Dachau, the infamous prison and death camp. He again met Ted Keck, his German friend from the boat to Australia. Ted was now a German officer. Ted exchanged David's identity tags with another prisoner's, and David was sent to a work camp instead of the death camp.
David was tortured for befriending a Jewish prisoner. The Germans nailed his feet to the floor to make him look like Christ on the cross. Later, David was dragged away, tearing his feet and causing him to get gangrene in his feet and legs.
David was taken to the camp infirmary, where a German doctor put maggots and leeches on his legs and made him eat raw chicken entrails.
In the spring of 1945, the Allies liberated David's camp. David weighed sixty-two pounds. The German officers and doctors were arrested. In 1945-46 the doctor who treated David was put on trial at the Nuremberg War Crime Trials. David, not yet twenty years of age, testified about what happened to him.
When David finished his testimony, the courtroom was still and silent until one man rose and asked if he could be heard. He was an American doctor.
The American doctor spoke about how the maggots ate off the dying tissues of his legs and feet. The leeches increased the blood flow in his legs, and the raw chicken gave him enough nutrition to allow him to heal.
In short, the German doctor had saved David's life.
Stunned as he heard this testimony, David broke down in tears and asked for forgiveness and proclaimed, "I will never hate another person in my life."
David would attend several art schools. He received a scholarship to the prestigious Chicago Art Institute. During his second stay in Chicago, there was no mention of an unopened sardine can.
At the Chicago Art Institute, he met Russian artist Marc Chagall, who was an influence on his painting. He was also friends and tutored by an American painter, Mark Tobey. Both Chagall and Tobey encouraged David to paint his dreams.
Native American art and the artists became mainstays in American culture. David Chethlahe Paladin was credited with creating the Native American form of sandpainting. He has influenced many other Native American artists.
Story of the Month contest entry
I have been interested in and appreciative of Native American art for many years, especially paintings and pottery.
The title of this story is also the title of the artwork in the picture next to the story. It certainly appears that some hand has guided this artist's life. I will tell you the story. You decide.
The artist's name is David Chethlahe Paladin. He was born in 1926 and died in 1984. His mother was a Navajo on the Arizona Reservation. His father was a caucasian Roman Catholic Priest. Shortly after his birth, his mother became a nun.
Chethlahe is his Najavo name. It means Little-Turtle-Who-Cries-In-The-Night. The Navajo elders added Paladin's last name because he lived on the Paladin Mesa on the Navajo Reservation. There was no record of how he got the name, David.
For the most part, David lived with members of his mother's clan. But he was sent off the reservation to the Santa Fe Indian School. His cousin Joe Wilson, a full-blooded Navajo, was also at the school. The teacher told a story about Chicago one day. The following day the cousins, about ten years old, hitchhiked to Chicago.
In Chicago, they mostly ate doughnuts and sardines. When they got down to the last can of sardines, Joe took the little key that opened the can, detached it, and threw it away. The boys now had only one unopened can of sardines.
David and Joe went into a restaurant and said, "We haven't eaten in three days, and we can't open this can. Will you help us?" The boys ate well that night.
They used the sardine gimmick at several more restaurants before finally being put on a bus back to the school.
This pattern of running off was a constant for them. In 1938, at age twelve, David and Joe took off for San Francisco. At the Embaracadero, they stowed away on a ship that would eventually dock in Australia. They became friends with a young German named Ted Keck on the ship. World War II started, and Ted thought it best to jump ship. He was afraid that being German might get him arrested.
The two cousins, David and Joe, would bum around the south seas. When the United States entered the war in December of 1941, David and Joe were picked up in the Admiralty Islands by authorities and asked about what they observed while they were on the south seas.
The "intelligence" officers thought these two 15-year-old boys might make excellent spies. After all, they lived on their own and were doing okay. So, they joined the OSS, the Office of Strategic Servies. Eventually, the OSS would become the CIA.
David was trained in how to steal planes and blow up safes. The OSS transported him to Europe and airdropped him behind enemy lines. It was only a matter of time before he was arrested and charged with espionage.
David was sentenced to death and sent to Dachau, the infamous prison and death camp. He again met Ted Keck, his German friend from the boat to Australia. Ted was now a German officer. Ted exchanged David's identity tags with another prisoner's, and David was sent to a work camp instead of the death camp.
David was tortured for befriending a Jewish prisoner. The Germans nailed his feet to the floor to make him look like Christ on the cross. Later, David was dragged away, tearing his feet and causing him to get gangrene in his feet and legs.
David was taken to the camp infirmary, where a German doctor put maggots and leeches on his legs and made him eat raw chicken entrails.
In the spring of 1945, the Allies liberated David's camp. David weighed sixty-two pounds. The German officers and doctors were arrested. In 1945-46 the doctor who treated David was put on trial at the Nuremberg War Crime Trials. David, not yet twenty years of age, testified about what happened to him.
When David finished his testimony, the courtroom was still and silent until one man rose and asked if he could be heard. He was an American doctor.
The American doctor spoke about how the maggots ate off the dying tissues of his legs and feet. The leeches increased the blood flow in his legs, and the raw chicken gave him enough nutrition to allow him to heal.
In short, the German doctor had saved David's life.
Stunned as he heard this testimony, David broke down in tears and asked for forgiveness and proclaimed, "I will never hate another person in my life."
David would attend several art schools. He received a scholarship to the prestigious Chicago Art Institute. During his second stay in Chicago, there was no mention of an unopened sardine can.
At the Chicago Art Institute, he met Russian artist Marc Chagall, who was an influence on his painting. He was also friends and tutored by an American painter, Mark Tobey. Both Chagall and Tobey encouraged David to paint his dreams.
Native American art and the artists became mainstays in American culture. David Chethlahe Paladin was credited with creating the Native American form of sandpainting. He has influenced many other Native American artists.
The title of this story is also the title of the artwork in the picture next to the story. It certainly appears that some hand has guided this artist's life. I will tell you the story. You decide.
The artist's name is David Chethlahe Paladin. He was born in 1926 and died in 1984. His mother was a Navajo on the Arizona Reservation. His father was a caucasian Roman Catholic Priest. Shortly after his birth, his mother became a nun.
Chethlahe is his Najavo name. It means Little-Turtle-Who-Cries-In-The-Night. The Navajo elders added Paladin's last name because he lived on the Paladin Mesa on the Navajo Reservation. There was no record of how he got the name, David.
For the most part, David lived with members of his mother's clan. But he was sent off the reservation to the Santa Fe Indian School. His cousin Joe Wilson, a full-blooded Navajo, was also at the school. The teacher told a story about Chicago one day. The following day the cousins, about ten years old, hitchhiked to Chicago.
In Chicago, they mostly ate doughnuts and sardines. When they got down to the last can of sardines, Joe took the little key that opened the can, detached it, and threw it away. The boys now had only one unopened can of sardines.
David and Joe went into a restaurant and said, "We haven't eaten in three days, and we can't open this can. Will you help us?" The boys ate well that night.
They used the sardine gimmick at several more restaurants before finally being put on a bus back to the school.
This pattern of running off was a constant for them. In 1938, at age twelve, David and Joe took off for San Francisco. At the Embaracadero, they stowed away on a ship that would eventually dock in Australia. They became friends with a young German named Ted Keck on the ship. World War II started, and Ted thought it best to jump ship. He was afraid that being German might get him arrested.
The two cousins, David and Joe, would bum around the south seas. When the United States entered the war in December of 1941, David and Joe were picked up in the Admiralty Islands by authorities and asked about what they observed while they were on the south seas.
The "intelligence" officers thought these two 15-year-old boys might make excellent spies. After all, they lived on their own and were doing okay. So, they joined the OSS, the Office of Strategic Servies. Eventually, the OSS would become the CIA.
David was trained in how to steal planes and blow up safes. The OSS transported him to Europe and airdropped him behind enemy lines. It was only a matter of time before he was arrested and charged with espionage.
David was sentenced to death and sent to Dachau, the infamous prison and death camp. He again met Ted Keck, his German friend from the boat to Australia. Ted was now a German officer. Ted exchanged David's identity tags with another prisoner's, and David was sent to a work camp instead of the death camp.
David was tortured for befriending a Jewish prisoner. The Germans nailed his feet to the floor to make him look like Christ on the cross. Later, David was dragged away, tearing his feet and causing him to get gangrene in his feet and legs.
David was taken to the camp infirmary, where a German doctor put maggots and leeches on his legs and made him eat raw chicken entrails.
In the spring of 1945, the Allies liberated David's camp. David weighed sixty-two pounds. The German officers and doctors were arrested. In 1945-46 the doctor who treated David was put on trial at the Nuremberg War Crime Trials. David, not yet twenty years of age, testified about what happened to him.
When David finished his testimony, the courtroom was still and silent until one man rose and asked if he could be heard. He was an American doctor.
The American doctor spoke about how the maggots ate off the dying tissues of his legs and feet. The leeches increased the blood flow in his legs, and the raw chicken gave him enough nutrition to allow him to heal.
In short, the German doctor had saved David's life.
Stunned as he heard this testimony, David broke down in tears and asked for forgiveness and proclaimed, "I will never hate another person in my life."
David would attend several art schools. He received a scholarship to the prestigious Chicago Art Institute. During his second stay in Chicago, there was no mention of an unopened sardine can.
At the Chicago Art Institute, he met Russian artist Marc Chagall, who was an influence on his painting. He was also friends and tutored by an American painter, Mark Tobey. Both Chagall and Tobey encouraged David to paint his dreams.
Native American art and the artists became mainstays in American culture. David Chethlahe Paladin was credited with creating the Native American form of sandpainting. He has influenced many other Native American artists.
 Recognized |
#15 May 2022 |
The Creator's Hand, the pictured artwork is an oil on metal. I acquired it from a gallery in Arizona several years ago. It shows a hand appearing to come from the heavens to form Mesas in the desert Southwestern United States.
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