Nellie Locust

Nellie Locust was proud of her US military service and her Native American heritage.

Nellie Locust's family, Donna Vojvodich & USCG Historian's Office

Quick Facts

Significance:

One of a few Native American women in SPARS

Place of Birth:

Vinita, Oklahoma

Date of Birth:

1921

Place of Death:

Lost City, Oklahoma

Date of Death:

1947

Nellie Locust was one of a few Native American women to join the SPARS. Her service during World War II is an example of Native American servicemembers’ commitment to both tribal pride and American patriotism. 

Early Life

Nellie Locust (Cherokee) was born in 1921 in Vinita, Oklahoma. She was the youngest of six children born to Johnston Locust, a member of the Cherokee Nation. Nellie and her family spoke the Cherokee language at home. She did not learn English until she started school. Locust attended Seneca Indian School, an Indian Boarding School, which by the 1920s was open to all tribal nations. In the 1930s the school was better known as Wyandotte. The goal of the school was to assimilate Native American children like Locust, but she also had fond memories of participating in Cherokee traditions even while attending.  

Locust went to Chilocco Indian Agricultural School. She then followed her sister to the Haskell Institute in Kansas. Both colleges were among the original five Indian Boarding Schools. She was learning secretarial skills as part of a commercial course when World War II broke out. 

Enlisting in SPARS

Locust enlisted in SPARS, the women’s reserve branch of the US Coast Guard. She joined as part of the Sooner Squadron, a group of women recruited in Oklahoma. There were five other Indigenous women from different tribes in the Sooner Squadron. 

Locust had several reasons for becoming a Spar. First, it was a way for her to put her secretarial skills to use. Her family also had a history of serving in the military. In the Civil War, her maternal grandfather had served in the Union Army as part of “Indian Home Guard Volunteers.” Her brother, Brian, also enlisted at the beginning of World War II. Finally, Locust chose the SPARS because she thought there would be more opportunity. It was, she observed, the smallest branch of the armed forces. 

Service in SPARS

Nellie Locust went from Oklahoma to Palm Beach, Florida to train with her fellow SPARS in 1943. She and the other Native American women received a lot of press attention there. Newspapers used stereotypical and outdated language, calling Locust an “Indian Princess” or “brave”. This coverage continued when Locust graduated from training in January 1944.  

Locust pushed back against the simplified narrative of Native American life and history. When one newspaper described her as the “daughter of the only son of a chieftain of the Cherokee Indians,” Locust emphasized that she had a very “average American girlhood.” When the same article talked about her “ancient lineage,” Locust countered that her family now lived in Oklahoma because her great-grandfather was forced on the Trail of Tears. 

Being a member of the Cherokee nation was very important to Locust. She was active in Cherokee traditions like corn festivals and the sacred fire ceremony. During SPARS training, she went on a blind date with another Native American servicemember, Johnny Cannon (Kiowa). Covered by at least six Florida newspapers, the two had been at boarding school together and reminisced about shared traditions. In almost every interview, Locust also expressed pride in other Native Americans serving in the military. “Several of them,” she told the Miami Herald, “have received recognition for bravery in combat overseas.” 

Locust served first at Fort Pierce, in Florida, working at the vessel repair base. She was able to take a brief leave between training and service to visit her parents in Oklahoma. Locust also served in the Coast Guard Identification Office, located in the DuPont Building in Miami, a Nationanl Historic Landmark. 

After World War II

Nellie Locust died shortly after the end of World War II, in 1947, after a long illness. Nellie Locust was 26 years old. She was survived by two children, Donewela and Michael Ray, her parents, and her siblings. Her Coast Guard Service is memorialized on her gravestone and in her obituary in the local newspaper. 

Sources:

Alicia Ault. “The Remarkable and Complex Legacy of Native American Military Service.” Smithsonian Magazine. The Remarkable and Complex Legacy of Native American Military Service | At the Smithsonian| Smithsonian Magazine

“Cherokee Indian Princess Joined SPARS to Help Nation in War Work.” Fort Pierce, FL: News-Tribute June 1, 1944.

“Cherokee Princess Serves Her Country Here as SPAR” Miami, FL. The Miami Herald. December 6, 1944.

“County Woman Dies at Indian Hospital. Vinita, Oklahoma: The Vinita Daily Journal. November 24, 1947.

“Indian Princess Meets Schoolmate.” Tallahassee Democrat. July 16, 1944. Pg 4.

“Meet the SPARS, Newest Military Women in Tampa.” The Tampa Tribune. October 31, 1943. pg 3.

"School History." Haskell University. School History | Haskell Indian Nations University Accessed September 4, 2024. 

The Vinita Daily Journal. Vinita: Oklahoma, Dec 27, 1933. Pg 3.

Donna Vojvodich. “The Long Blue Line: ‘Sooner Squadron’—First Native American Women to Enlist in the Coast Guard.” United States Coast Guard. November 5, 2021. The Long Blue Line: “Sooner Squadron”—First Native American Women to enlist in the Coast Guard > United States Coast Guard > My Coast Guard News (uscg.mil)