A woman at a podium speaks into a microphone as audience members look on, ca. 1968. Photograph by Roger Woo, courtesy of the American Indian Movement Interpretative Center.

The aircraft hanger, shown here in a 1939 photo, was built in 1932 and served as home for the 109th Observation Squadron when it trained at Camp Ripley. In the forefront are two Douglas O-38 biplanes; a North American O-47 monoplane peeks out from the hanger.

Alan Lessik (left) and Rene Valdes (right), 2000s. Lessik met Valdes in San Diego in 2000, the same year in which Valdes left Minneapolis to begin his life on the West Coast. Valdes eventually got a job with Microsoft. Used with the permission from Alan Lessik.

Alan Lessik talks about Rene Valdes’s experience at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin, and his disastrous interview with the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Interview conducted by Britt Aamodt, October 8, 2018. Used with the permission of Britt Aamodt and Alan Lessik.