Edward Eugene Claplanhoo

Edward Eugene Claplanhoo (August 8, 1928 – March 14, 2010) was an American Makah elder and former chairman of the Makah Tribe, located on the northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. Claplanhoo was the first Makah to earn a bachelor's degree. Claplanhoo was the chairman of the Makah during the excavation of the Ozette Indian Village Archeological Site in the 1970s. He is credited with keeping the artifacts uncovered at Ozette in Neah Bay. Under his leadership, the Makah Museum, which houses the Ozette collection, was established at Neah Bay in 1979. He also established Fort Núñez Gaona–Diah Veterans Park in Neah Bay in 2008.

Claplanhoo was born on August 8, 1928. He was adopted by Arthur Claplanhoo (1895-1973) and Ruth Claplanhoo (1902-2002) and raised in Neah Bay, Washington, on the Makah Indian Reservation. His mother, Ruth Claplanhoo, a cedar basket weaver who died in August 2002 at the age of 100, was the last native speaker of the Makah language. His father, Art, worked as a fire lookout for the forestry division of the Bureau of Indian Affairs from 1938 to 1947.

In 1947, he enrolled as a student at Washington State College (present-day Washington State University) on a full scholarship awarded by the Washington State Department of Education. Claplanhoo was a member of the WSC ROTC when he was drafted into United States Army. He left college and took a bus to Fort Lewis, where he was sworn into the Army on November 17, 1950, at 1:30 p.m. He was assigned to the 369th Engineer Amphibious Support Regiment, Boat Battalion, eventually rising to the rank of sergeant first class. During his military service, Claplanhoo was stationed in Washington at Fort Worden in Port Townsend and at Fort Lewis; as well as Naval Base Coronado; the Presidio of San Francisco; Fort MacArthur; a base in Thule, Greenland; and Rochefort, France.

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