Medicine Crow completed all four tasks required to become a war chief: Touching an enemy without killing him, taking an enemy’s weapon, leading a successful war party and stealing an enemy’s horse.
He touched a living enemy soldier and disarmed an enemy when he turned a corner and found himself face to face with a young German soldier:
“The collision knocked the German’s weapon to the ground. Mr. [Medicine] Crow lowered his own weapon and the two fought hand-to-hand. In the end Mr. Crow got the best of the German, grabbing him by the neck and choking him. He was going to kill the German soldier on the spot when the man screamed out “momma.” Mr. Crow then let him go.
He also led a successful war party and stole an enemy horse, making a midnight raid to steal the horses from a battalion of German officers (as he rode off, he sang a traditional Crow honor song.) He is the last member of the Crow tribe to become a war chief.
In 2009, President Obama bestowed upon Medicine Crow the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest civilian honor.
