Born in the missionary section of the Red Lake Indian Reservation in 1929, Nordwall was the son of a Swedish man and an Ojibwe woman.
[3] In 1968, at the Bay Area Italian-Americans' annual San Francisco reenactment of Columbus' landing in America, having successfully lobbied to have the Indians portrayed by genuine Indians rather than costumed Boy Scouts, Nordwall flicked the wig off Joe Cervetto, playing Columbus, with his ceremonial staff in a symbolic scalping.
[1] Nordwall began to plan publicity movement involving a boat ride around Alcatraz, and he met with Richard Oakes, a local student activist, at a Halloween party at Tim Findley's house in 1969.
Nordwall stayed behind and watched as Oakes and his band struggled to reach the shore, later having to be rescued by the Coast Guard.
Oakes and his fellow students were returned by the Coast Guard, and Nordwall asked if they were ok. On the day of the actual takeover and occupation, November 20, 1969, Nordwall was out of town, but on Thanksgiving when everyone was invited to the Island he came riding across the bay standing on the prow of a ship exactly like George Washington, being the only day he was ever on the island during the 19 month Occupation of Alcatraz.
[1] Nordwall filed for bankruptcy and left the Bay Area in 1975 after his pest control business incurred fines for environmental code violations and underpayment of taxes.
[1] He now lives on the Paiute-Shoshone Reservation, where his wife was born; he has built a roundhouse out of tires and other recycled materials.
[1] In the 1980s he won awards for his sculpture; he also makes ceremonial pipes and headdresses, and in 1987 was jailed and tried for selling eagle feathers.