Historian Identifies State’s First Confirmed Female Tribal Member to Serve in WWI

Ed Saunders, a U.S. Army veteran and Laurel resident, has a lot of questions about Regina McIntyre Early. He wants to know what her childhood was like, what type of education she had, and why she died so young in 1923.

But here’s what Saunders does know: McIntyre was among a special group of women from Montana who served as nurses in Europe during World War I. She is also the first confirmed World War I veteran who was an enrolled member of an American Indian tribe in Montana.

“There may be other female tribal members from Montana who served in World War I, but Regina is the first known and proven. There may be others but I haven’t found them yet,” Saunders said. “It’s very exciting.”

Saunders, a retired lieutenant colonel who spent 22 years in the U.S. Army, grew up in Wyoming and moved to Montana when he retired. Spurred by a lifelong interest in genealogy, he began researching local veterans and stumbled upon the headstone of Florence Ames at a nearby cemetery. Saunders said the headstone was unique in that it had the lyrics of taps written on it and wanted to know more about Ames.

He learned that Ames served in the Army Nurse Corps in World War I. In fact, there were quite a few women from Yellowstone County who went overseas during that conflict. Telling these women’s stories became his new mission.

“In the Army, we’re taught to never leave anyone behind, and so that’s what drives me, to ensure that everyone’s service, no matter how small or how long ago it was, is remembered,” Saunders said.

After researching the two-dozen women who served from Yellowstone County, Saunders decided to expand his search to the entire state, with the eventual goal of writing a book about them. He discovered that numerous women from Montana served as nurses overseas in World War I, propelled by the state’s multiple nursing schools.

“When these women went to war, they couldn’t even vote,” Saunders said. “They didn’t get the same pay, rank or status of men in the military. These women went to war with society saying, ‘You are not equal.’ But despite that, these women served proudly.”

Recently, the Montana State Library started publishing the service records of World War I veterans. The records helped Saunders discover a whole new batch of nurses, and he quickly sorted them into a database and began researching them one at a time. A few weeks ago, he got to Regina White McIntyre’s service card. The small piece of paper stated that she was born in Missoula on April 14, 1895 and served in four different Army hospitals in France between September 1918 and July 1919.

In the process of researching McIntyre’s life, Saunders discovered her name in a 1905 census where she was listed as a tribal member. After some additional research by the tribe, Saunders was able to confirm that McIntyre was an enrolled tribal member who had one-quarter native blood thanks to her mother.

The most concrete details that Saunders has been able to unearth have come from her service card published by the state library. What she did when she returned home from Europe is unknown, other than that she died in 1923 at the age of 28. Although she is buried in the Polson area, Saunders isn’t positive she died there because there’s evidence suggesting that her family also spent time in Washington in the early 1920s. Saunders is currently trying to track down a death certificate in hopes that it will lead him to an obituary.

Meanwhile, McIntyre and other veterans will be honored at a small ceremony in Billings on April 6 to dedicate a new memorial for female WWI service members from Yellowstone County. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes also plan to add McIntyre’s name to the Eagle Circle Wall of Remembrance in Pablo this coming July.

“The greatest tragedy that could happen to an American serviceman or service woman isn’t dying in battle; it is being forgotten in life and in death by the nation that they served,” Saunders said. ““It would be a huge loss to this country and this state if these women’s stories were not preserved.”