This Crow GI became the
last Indian War Chief during World War II
Few American veterans will ever officially earn both the Presidential Medal
of Freedom and the title of Crow War Chief. Joe Medicine Crow might be
the only one. His other awards include the Bronze Star and the French Légion
d'Honneur. How he earned the title of War Chief of the Crow tribe is a feat
unheard of for decades before World War II started.
But for all his feats, he was still a Private in the U.S. Army.
There are four criteria to become a Crow War Chief, all of which Joe
Medicine Crow accomplished during two years of service with the U.S. Army in
Europe:
- Touching an Enemy Without Killing Him
- Taking an Enemy's Weapon
- Leading a Successful War Party
- Stealing an Enemy's Horse
The Crow did not likely think this would be so difficult in the age of
machine guns and tanks, but as Joe Medicine Crow showed, it was clearly not
impossible.
The Native American GI was working in a shipyard in Washington state for
the first part of World War II. In 1943, he decided to join the U.S. Army. He
came from an incredible nomadic warrior tradition. He was the last person to
hear a first-hand account of the Battle of Little Bighorn and his grandfather
served as a scout for Gen. George Armstrong Custer before the general's last
stand. Joe Medicine Crow would carry this tradition forward, as well as many
others.
Before he left for the war, a medicine man provided him with a painted
eagle feather he would wear under his uniform before fighting. He would also
paint traditional war paint under his uniform, placing two red stripes on his
arms. And then, he became a War Chief, the last Crow War Chief.
While fighting at the Siegfried Line, the border fortification that would
take the U.S. Army into Germany, the warrior was ordered to take a team – a war
party, if you will – and cross a field under a hail of bullets to retrieve some
dynamite from a previously destroyed American position. Joe Medicine Crow and
seven fellow GIs crossed a field of devastating fire that probably should have
killed all of them, grabbed the explosives and blew a huge hole in Hitler's
vaunted line. No one was killed. One down.
After penetrating the line, Joe Medicine Crow and the 103d Infantry
advanced on a nearby town that turned out to be heavily defended. As a scout,
Joe was ahead of most of his unit. After they were ordered to flank some German
defenders, Joe was separated and decided to take a shortcut. That's when he ran
right into a Nazi defender while running at full sprint.
For anyone else, this might have been embarrassing at the least and deadly
at the most, but this is Joe Medicine Crow. He sent the Nazi flying and the
Nazi's rifle across the lawn. The American was still standing as he bent over
and grabbed his enemy's weapon. Two down.
Instead of killing the German, Joe decided to drop the weapon and let his
warrior skills take over. The two men fought hand-to-hand for what seemed like
hours. When Joe finally got the upper hand and started to kill the Nazi soldier
with his hands at the man's throat. But the German began to whimper, and Joe
let him go. Three down.
Then, there's the task of stealing a horse.
Joe Medicine Crow was scouting a farmhouse behind
enemy lines one night when he realized it was full of high-ranking SS officers.
They all rode there on horses, which were corralled under guard near the house.
Joe Medicine Crow snuck through the guards with only his M1911 to protect him.
Having grown up learning to ride horses bareback, mounting one of them in
Europe was no problem. He let out a Crow war cry and sang a song as he herded
all the horses out of the corral and into U.S. Army lore.
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