Provided by Barbara A. Gibbs
Source unknown - (probably Manistee News Advocate), About 1944
"Woods Lore Proves Aid to County Soldier in South Pacific Fighting"

"Chief" was the name that members of his platoon bestowed upon Irving Theodore, Manistee county soldier, because he was the only Indian in the company of the 37th Division with which he served in the South Pacific. In fact, many of the men in the group had never seen an Indian before, and the nickname came naturally.

"Chief" Theodore, the son of Mr. and Mrs. James Theodore of Brethren, is out of the service now, having been given his honorable discharge after he was severely wounded in New Georgia. He's working in Muskegon at the present, but is counting the days when he'll be able to get back to the hunting and fishing he enjoyed so much in Manistee county.

The woods lore which he picked up during those hunting and fishing trips served him in good stead in the Pacific fighting. He knew how to get about in the woods; he knew how to stalk game; he knew how to handle a gun. Those things came in handy when he was given assignments as "point" in advances through the jungles. The "point" spot--leading man in the leading advance patrol--is definitely not a spot conducive to good health and longevity.

But he got along pretty well, it seems, and came through some fighting which he will describe only as "rugged", including a period of six days when his outfit went without food and was able to have his ammunition replenished only by means of parachutes. He's reticent about the battle action in which he participated and about the Japs he saw--except to say there were more dead ones than live ones.

Finally, just before his 25th birthday, a shrapnel blast caught up with "Chief". He never knew what hit him and didn't come to until six days later.

When he could be moved he was taken to a base hospital on another island in the South Pacific where he spent six months before coming back to the States. After another period of hospitalization he was given his discharge several months ago.

All that's past now and he doesn't talk much about it, except to say that now he will appreciate his hunting and fishing in this part of the country more than ever before.