Otis W. Leader: The Ideal American Doughboy

by Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer

Amid the growing tensions of WWI, Otis W. Leader--a thirty-five-year-old widower of Chickasaw, Choctaw, Cherokee, and Irish descent--left behind three children, his job, and his home in Oklahoma to enlist in the Army. Assigned to the First Division of the American Expeditionary Forces, he was chosen to represent the "Ideal American Doughboy," and lived up to that title, earning honors like the Croix de Guerre, two Silver Stars, a Congressional Gold Medal, and a Purple Heart. In Otis W. The Ideal American Doughboy, author Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer explores Leader's time during and after the Great War to construct an unprecedented war memoir, bringing to light an uplifting story in Leader's own words of endurance, bravery, and perseverance throughout unforgettable battles on the infamous Western Front.

264 pages, Hardcover

Published October 4, 2023

About the author

SARAH ELISABETH SAWYER is a story archaeologist. She digs up shards of past lives, hopes, and truths, and pieces them together for readers today. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian honored her as a literary artist through their Artist Leadership Program for her work in preserving Choctaw Trail of Tears stories. She is the creator of the Fiction Writing: American Indians digital course.

A tribal member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, she writes historical fiction from her hometown in Texas, partnering with her mother, Lynda Kay Sawyer, in continued research for future works. Learn more at SarahElisabethWrites.com, ChoctawSpirit.com, and Facebook.com/SarahElisabethSawyer.

Reviews

[Michael Philliber · Rating 5 out of 5]

A homegrown biography of an Oklahoma veteran (WWI). The author nicely pulled this together, all of the details and episodes of Leader's life, and made this a very readable book. A piece of history that wraps together pieces of Native America and Oklahoma. Worth reading.