HYSTERICAL JOURNEY TO HISTORIC PLACES

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MATHEW B. JUAN

The Gila River Pimas take justifiable pride in their war heroes. Mathew B. Juan was born in San Tan to Joseph and Mary B. Juan on April 22, 1892. He got his elementary schooling at Sacaton and then went on to the Sherman Institute in Riverside, CA. It was an Indian boarding school. When he graduated he left town with a travelling circus. In June of 1917 he registered for the military draft in Wichita Falls, TX and sure enough he got drafted on December 11. Soldiers were needed quick and dirty for the Great War in France. In January of 1918 he was already aboard the troopship Tuscania bound for Le Havre. The Tuscania was torpedoed and sunk in the North Channel on Feb 5, 1918. Two hundred soldiers and sixty five merchant sailors drowned, but Mathew was pulled from the sea and taken to Ireland. He made his way back to his regiment, completed his training and on May 21, was assigned to duty in France with Company K, 28^th Infantry Regiment, in the Second Brigade of the First Division. A week later he participated in the first American offensive engagement in WWI. It was the Battle of Cantigny, and it was pretty small potatoes as most battles went in that gruesome war. The Americans drove the Germans from their position and repulsed several counter attacks. During the initial assault on the German held salient Mathew B. Juan was killed by machine gun fire. In 1921 he was exhumed and returned to his family. He lies at peace in the Cook Memorial Church Cemetery in Sacaton. He was the first Arizona soldier to be killed in WWI.

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Photos

MATHEW B. JUAN
A statue has been erected in the veterans park in Sacaton. Go north on I-10 from Casa Grande until you get to the Casa Blanca Rd exit. Turn right about 5 miles to the park. You need a permit from the tribal council to visit the cemetery.