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VA clinic named in honored late Mayetta veteran

By Brian Hagen

08/04/2024

Credit: U.S. Senator Jerry Moran

(KAIR)--It's official: the legacy of late Mayetta resident, and veteran, Captain Elwin Shopteese, is remembered through the renaming of the VA outpatient clinic in Kansas City, Kansas.

According to a joint release from the Kansas Republicans who sponsored the legislation for renaming, Senator Jerry Moran and Senator Roger Marshall, M.D., the legislation was signed into law by President Joe Biden on July 30th.

The President's signature designates the clinic, under law, as "the “Captain Elwin Shopteese Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic” or the “Captain Elwin Shopteese VA Clinic.”

Shopteese, a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, was born in Mayetta on July 16, 1921, enlisting in the Kansas National Guard after his high school graduation, and served in World War II, earning a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart for his service.

Following his return from war, Shopteese, the release says, "dedicated himself to serving his fellow Native Americans, specifically the members of the Potawatomi nation."

Moran, ranking member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, says the renaming honors the "legacy of service to our country and the Native American community" provided by Shopteese, "who dedicated his life to his country and his community.”