Warrior's Legacy: General Tinker's family, tribe keep proud memory alive in song and dance Published July 17, 2008 By Danielle Gregory Tinker Public Affairs TINKER AIR FORCE BASE -- Almost seven decades after the naming of Tinker Air Force Base family members continue to recognize and honor the legacy of Maj. Gen. Clarence Leonard Tinker. General Tinker was an Airman of Osage Indian ancestry who lost his life during World War II while on a combat mission during the Japanese attack on Midway Island in the Pacific, June 7, 1942. During the Battle of Midway, General Tinker led a force of early model B-24 bombers against fleeting Japanese naval forces. Close to Midway Island, it is reported that his plane was viewed going out of control and plunging into the sea. General Tinker and eight crewmen lost their lives. His body was never recovered. "We were the last to see him before his assignment in Hawaii. One thing I know about Uncle Clarence is that he wouldn't have asked any of his men to do something he wouldn't, but the mission was so important that he felt he had to be there. As a result when his plane failed, his life was lost," said nephew William A. Tinker. Originally from Pawhuska, Okla., General Tinker was the first American general to be killed in WWII. Soon after his death at Midway the Oklahoma City Air Depot was named in his honor as the Tinker Air Field, which is now known as Tinker Air Force Base. "Uncle Clarence set the standards for the Tinker family to do nothing to dishonor the Tinker name. We are proud of his accomplishments and like to keep his memory alive," said Sarah Jane Tinker Soderstrom, a niece of General Tinker. Recently the descendants of General Tinker gathered for an annual Osage Inlonshka dance at Pawhuska in honor of their history and culture. "Inlonshka came to the Osage in the 1880s from a closely related tribe at a time when Osage ceremonial structures had been seriously damaged by the creation of the reservation system, and it has become the remaining men's society among modern Osages. From the beginning, it was a defender and veteran's ceremony that includes traditional dances over four days, but it has come to include young men and boys today. As a continuing ceremony, it brings together the whole nation and helps Osages build on family solidarity and our traditional communitarian culture and value system," said George Edward Tinker IV. Celebrating his 90th birthday recently, George Edward Tinker III, a nephew of General Tinker said, "My appreciation of our heritage grows as we go along and I am proud of my heritage. The dance gives us a sense of healing, all animosities are left at the entrance and it is not a celebration but rather a religious situation." "When General Tinker was killed in 1942, the wife of the Principal Chief of the Osage paid to have this memorial song created. Since 1942, it has always been sung on the fourth day of the Pawhuska Inlonshka," said George Edward Tinker IV. This song is one of approximately a dozen family memorial songs that are sung to honor a person or family's significance to the Osage nation. "He spoke the Osage language very well. Once during the war he was home sick while overseas so he called his father and spoke to him in Osage for awhile. The very next day two FBI men were at the door wanting to know what they were talking about and what was going on," said Ms. Soderstrom. The family mentioned that the Tinker legacy stretches beyond the base, Gen. Tinker's wife, Madeline, helped another general's wife select the Air Force song that is still used today. The Tinker family members are very proud of their heritage and song that is in honor of their fallen soldier and beloved family member, General Tinker.