--- title: "This Crow GI became the last Indian War Chief during World War II" description: "Few American veterans will ever officially earn both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the title of Crow War Chief." date: "2022-09-24" modified: "2022-09-24" authors: - name: "Blake Stilwell" job_title: "Editor-In-Chief, Air Force Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/blake/" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/popular/crow-chief-world-war-ii/" categories: - "History" - "War History" - "World War II" --- # This Crow GI became the last Indian War Chief during World War II ![A man wearing a traditional Native American feathered headdress and colorful attire is holding a large drum. He is standing next to a man in a dark suit with a red tie, and another man in a suit with a striped tie and a headband with feathers. The setting appears to be indoors with elegant decor.]() *Joe Medicine Crow in full feathered headdress plays a drum for U.S. President Barack Obama. (Wikimedia Commons)* 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. --- ![]() *Screenshot via Whitehouse.gov* "Promote ahead of peers." 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. Also, that's Dr. Joe Medicine Crow. Just sayin. 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. ![]() *Screenshot via Whitehouse.gov* Crow lived to the ripe old age of 102. 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. ## Author Blake Stilwell is We Are The Mighty's Editor-in-Chief, covering military news, entertainment, and history, along with veteran education, employment and entrepreneurship. He is a former U.S. Air Force combat cameraman with degrees in Graphic Design, Television and Film, International Relations, Public Relations, Business Management and Middle Eastern Affairs. After leaving the military, he began working in film and television production in New York and Los Angeles, work that included ABC News, NBC Olympics, and HBO Sports. He then spent two years in Washington with White House Communications, before joining the Near East Foundation. At NEF he served as an International Development Fellow, then Communications Officer, and finally, Media Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Based in the Palestinian Territory, he coordinated strategic communications between eight country offices, international media, and government and NGO partners. He began a career focused on writing and editing in 2015 with We Are The Mighty. He left in 2019 for Military.com, but returned as Editor-in-Chief in 2025. Blake’s work has been seen on CBS News, Fox News, CBC, The Chicago Tribune, Task & Purpose, Military Times, Recoil, Skillset, American History, and was shockingly even used in a Supreme Court argument. He is an avid traveler and small business owner in Ohio, where he spends most of his energy fixing up a very old house. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()