Indians' remains given dignified resting place
Story-Date: 02:06 a.m. PST Friday   , September 18, 1998

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Indians' remains given dignified resting place


By ART CHAPMAN 
Knight Ridder News Service

GATESVILLE, Texas -- On the northern reaches of Fort Hood, where
camouflage-painted trucks stir the Central Texas dust, a narrow gravel road
meanders off to a remote pasture that is studded with hundreds of charred
stumps from old prairie fires, budding new mesquites and protected by a
towering chain-link fence.

Behind the fence lies the Comanche National Indian Cemetery.

It is not a cemetery specifically for Comanches, nor is it administered by
the federal government. It is a repository of sorts, a place where the
displaced bones of American Indians can be returned to the ground with
dignity and reverence. It is a place for repatriation.

"We have about 105 repatriations," said Dortch Short, chairman of the
cemetery. "We have Comanche, Kiowa, Tonkawa and Coahuiltecan. We have some
Wichita and Caddo scheduled to come in soon."

Short has been associated with the cemetery for six years. It was
established in 1991 and is operated through an agreement among Fort Hood,
The American Indian Resource and Education Coalition and the Comanche Tribe
of Oklahoma.

Short, 70, a retired Army sergeant major and former Fort Worth, Texas,
resident, works as a volunteer for the Indian Coalition, based in Austin,
Texas.

Kimball Smith, a staff archaeologist at Fort Hood, also works with the
cemetery. He said the armed forces have been active for several years in
trying to preserve bones and artifacts found on the post or those brought
to federal property for disposition.

At first, the Army contacted individual tribes to take possession of the
remains but only the Comanches had an active cemetery committee to help.
The tribe believed, however, that because the Comanche remains at the fort
actually were uncovered there, they should be reburied there, as well.

Smith said it was then that the Army decided to set aside five acres for
the cemetery. The land is designated specifically for repatriation of
remains and is not for new burials.

"This cemetery is on ancient ground," Short said. "There used to be a
Comanche village here."

When land owners or construction workers uncover remains on their property,
they often contact the fort and deliver the bones. Smith conducts an
analysis to determine at least a partial identification.



Many graves vandalized

"Generally, with donated remains, we do minimal analysis," Smith said. "We
determine how many people there are; sometimes we just get bones in a box.
We can get a ballpark age on them, we can determine the sex. If we get
other evidence or artifacts along with the remains, it helps."

Smith and Short complain that too many of the original grave sites have
been vandalized by souvenir seekers. They point out that each tribe has its
own burial ceremonies, characteristic clothing, tools or rituals.

When the artifacts are removed from a grave site and only the bones are
left, it becomes nearly impossible to determine their origin.

There is one grave at the cemetery that contains the remains of 49
children. No one knows to what tribe they belonged. The cause of death
never was understood. It could have been a massacre or a sweeping illness.

Without accompanying evidence or artifacts, no one can be certain.



Graveyards unprotected

"Texas does not have a state law protecting burial grounds on public or
private land," Smith said. "We have been trying to get one through the
legislature for the past 10 years but it never makes it out of committee
for a full vote."

Occasionally, when remains can be identified as being from a certain tribe,
the tribe is contacted and given the responsibility for reburial. The Army
ensures that the cemetery is accessible and that training does not disrupt
the ceremony but the tribe takes care of the ritual.

"The Native Americans police themselves as to the activity," Smith said.
"The only restriction is that it must be a traditional Native American
ceremony. They decide who can and can't come."

Short and Smith enforce the policies of the tribes. No photos can be taken
of the graves and no one is allowed to watch the repatriations without
approval of the tribes.

"This is a holy place," Short said. "It is our job to honor it."



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