Ernest Childers, a Chilocco Indian School graduate and retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, earned the Medal of Honor, the United States of America's highest military honor, while serving as a 2nd Lt. in the Army's 45th Infantry Division at Oliveto, Italy, on September 22, 1943, during World War II. Childers, a Creek Indian, said, "The American Indian has only one country to defend, and when you're picked on, the American Indian never turns his back."