Dr. Joe Medicine Crow

[Stearmen]

WWII veteran, and the last Plains Indian War Chief died at the age of 102. After receiving a Doctorate of Anthropology, Joe joined the army, and completed all four of the requirements, to become a War Chief. This included stilling 50 horses from an SS officer! He is also the last link between the Battle of The Little Big Horn. He knew many that were at the battle and wrote down their eye witness accounts. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...to-the-battle-of-little-big-horn-dies-at-102/

 

[Tiki Tom]

Wow. What a story. What a life.
Thanks for sharing this.

From the article:

"According to Crow tradition, a man must fulfill certain requirements to become chief of the tribe: command a war party successfully, enter an enemy camp at night and steal a horse, wrestle a weapon away from his enemy and touch the first enemy fallen, without killing him.

Joe Medicine Crow was the last person to meet that code, though far from the windswept plains where his ancestors conceived it. During World War II, when he was a scout for the 103rd Infantry in Europe, he strode into battle wearing war paint beneath his uniform and a yellow eagle feather inside his helmet. So armed, he led a mission through German lines to procure ammunition. He helped capture a German village and disarmed — but didn’t kill — an enemy soldier. And, in the minutes before a planned attack, he set off a stampede of 50 horses from a Nazi stable, singing a traditional Crow honor song as he rode away."
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This is a movie waiting to be made.