By RICHARD WALKER
Henry “Penny” Hillaire was smiling in almost every photo on display and in the slideshow at his funeral service.

That’s how I remember him. When I met the former vice chairman of the Lummi Nation in 2008, he lit up when his son, Darrell, and I entered the living room. We had a lively conversation. He showed me his shadow box with his World War II medals, which his son-in-law helped him obtain. We talked about smokers — amateur boxing matches — and the fellow soldier he helped manage; the soldier went on to a professional boxing career. He fondly remembered the beauty of the French coast.

Inducted into the Army in April 1943 and trained as an MP at Boise, he volunteered for overseas duty and shipped out of Boston for Liverpool, which was being buzz-bombed by the Germans. He shipped to Le Havre, France; when I met him, he still had a piece of shrapnel in his thigh from a Bouncing Betty that exploded on the beach. He could tell that story without emotion. What came next made him tear up.

While serving in Europe, he and his unit assisted people displaced by the war, handing out food, clothing and supplies. He witnessed the liberation of concentration camps and assisted the survivors. The memory still haunted him six decades later: Human beings, malnourished, emaciated, skin and bones. Hillaire was still shocked that human beings were capable of treating other human beings like that.

When Hillaire returned from the war, his carbine was replaced by his rosary as a weapon against injustice. He and his wife fought to protect the rights reserved by the Lummi Nation in its 1855 treaty with the United States. They worked to improve educational and economic opportunities for their people. They raised a family of 17 children, several of whom followed them into public service. Two served as chairpersons of the Lummi Nation, another served on the council. Political battles continue for Lummi’s newest generation of leaders. But Hillaire and his generation helped smooth their path.

The Lummi Nation bid farewell on July 31 to PFC Henry A. Hillaire: Soldier, political leader, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, uncle.

He played another important role — a role that becomes all the more important as time marches on. He was a witness to the horrors of Holocaust, of state-sponsored persecution and murder of a people. And we’re losing those witnesses every day.

Lummi’s population was about 700 when America entered World War II. Of that 700, 104 went into military service — believed to be the greatest per capita number of any community in the United States. Four Lummi died in action, according to a speaker at Hillaire’s funeral.

By 2008, Hillaire was one of eight living WWII veterans from the Lummi Nation. As of this writing, there are two. According to Wikipedia, citing information from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 16.1 million Americans served in the armed forces during World War II; 1.4 million were still alive in November 2012. Veterans Affairs estimated that 670 American World War II veterans died every day in 2011.

As these witnesses to history pass on, we need to ensure their stories stay alive. Doing so will protect the record from those who would revise it. And it will steel our resolve to ensure a world free of such disease, hunger, death and unthinkable cruelty.

Note: Hillaire’s military decorations included the Bronze Star, the European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, American Theater Service Medal, World War II Victory Medal, and Marksman M — Rifle 03 Carbine.