Choctaw Indian Joseph Oklahombi was the war’s most decorated soldier. He was also one of the most modest heroes. He helped to capture more enemy prisoners than any other soldier except for Sergeant Alvin York of Tennessee. When Sergeant York returned from overseas, he was met with much acclaim, but when Joseph Oklahombi returned, he was met only by two crooks who wanted to steal his land from him.

When the Oklahoma City troop train arrived at the Tulsa railroad yard at 8:00 a.m., the entire African American sector appeared to be burning. General Charles Barrett, arriving on the train, later reported that 25,000 whites, “armed to the teeth, were ranging the city in utter and ruthless defiance of every concept of law and righteousness.” Martial law was declared at 11:30 a.m. . .Over 3,000 Tulsans were wounded, and it is reported that many more did not seek treatment because they didn’t want to be identified with the riot.

The most productive of all the wells in that pool was the Mary Sudik, soon dubbed the Wild Mary Sudik. Brought in with a roar, the well spewed gas and oil so high that houses in Norman, eleven miles south, were sprayed. When the wind shifted, homes some twelve miles away in Nicoma Park were sprayed with the slimy substance. The gusher threw an estimated 200 million cubic feet of gas and 20,000 barrels of crude oil into the air daily for eleven days. Hundreds of acres of farmland were soaked with oil, ponds and lakes bore a thick film on their surfaces, and the derrick was invisible, hidden inside the mighty gusher.

The original insignia for the 45th resembled a gold swastika on a red background – an Indian “good luck” sign. However, when the swastika became infamous as the Nazi symbol with the rise of Adolph Hitler, the original symbol was abandoned. A new one was sought by means of a statewide contest. In 1940, the Indian “thunderbird” symbol was adopted in yellow on a red diamond field, and the members of the 45th Infantry became known as the Thunderbirds