By John Greiner
Capitol Bureau
The widow of 45th Division Medal of Honor recipient Ernest Childers implored lawmakers, Guard members and others Tuesday never to forget her husband because "he never forgot you.”
Yolanda Childers of Coweta was presented a Medal of Honor flag Tuesday during a ceremony in the state House of Representatives.
She displayed pictures she received in the past month from the son of the soldier who photographed Ernest Childers receiving the Medal of Honor. He got it during a ceremony in Naples, Italy, during World War II.
Ernest Childers, who died in 2005, was the first member of Oklahoma's 45th Thunderbird Division to be awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II. He earned it for conspicuous gallantry in combat on Sept. 22, 1943, at Oliveta, Italy, when he wiped out a German machine gun nest.
Yolanda Childers is donating the photographs, which she'd never seen until about a month ago, to the 45th Division Museum.
"They have finally come home to rest to all of you ... 45th,” she said.
The photos told a better story than her husband did about the ceremony.
"My husband always said, ‘Oh, there was just a little parade and a little racetrack,'” she said.
"He was so humble.”
The photographs show it was a huge parade, a huge racetrack and a huge gathering of soldiers, she said.
Among those at the Medal of Honor ceremony included a British division, she added.
"He was just a plain, 45th Division National Guard Indian boy who happened to try to save part of his company, part of his platoon,” she said. "He wasn't doing anything courageous.”
After being treated for wounds, he went back into combat, serving in Europe through the end of World War II, she said.
She said her husband never spoke much about his service in the war.
He joined the 45th Division in 1937 while he was a student at the Chilocco Indian School.
In an interview in 1990, he said nearly every member of the unit was an Indian who had gone to the school.
When Yolanda Childers finished speaking Tuesday, Gov. Brad Henry hugged her.
He later said, "Mrs. Childers, what a perfect tribute, I think, to the wonderful soldiers of the 45th Division. Your words literally brought tears to my eyes. And I guarantee you there's not a single person in this chamber today who will ever forget Ernest Childers and what he did.”
