France, 1944
and the 103rd infantry regiment are playing their part in the liberation of Europe
from under the jack booted heel of the Germans.
30-year-old rifleman, Joe Medicine Crow, is a scout for the regiment.
A job he is uniquely suited for,
Joe comes from a long line of Crow warriors.
His grandfather “White Man Runs Him”
was a scout for General Custer in 1876 at the battle of the Little Bighorn.
Now scouting through the French countryside
he is putting the skills he has learned from his elders to good use.
But turning a corner in a French village,
he surprises a German.
Without hesitation Joe goes to work.
Quickly disarming the man by grabbing his rifle,
Joe too puts his rifle down!
This is going to be a brave fight between warriors.
Joe jumps upon the German.
The struggle is desperate.
But Joe has the upper hand.
Wrestling on the ground, the German soldier slowly succumbs to Joe’s strength.
Grabbing the German by the neck with both hands,
Joe starts to take the fight to its terrible conclusion.
Resisting as he much as he can,
the German starts to feel his breath and his life ebb away.
Desperate now and helpless,
in fear he starts to shout out as much as he is able,
his last words:
"Mutti… Mutti… Mama!"
Joe is woken from his battle rage by the German’s cries for his mother
and releases his grip.
Picking up his and the German’s rifle,
Joe decides to make the young soldier a prisoner of war,
drags him off the ground and marches him back to camp.
By touching his enemy without killing him and taking an enemy’s weapon,
Joe has just completed 2 out of the 4 deeds he needs to become a Crow Warrior Chief!
Joe’s Company continue the push through France,
right up to the German border.
Joe was in K company.
Before going into battle he would paint Crow battle paint on his arms under his uniform
and place a painted eagle feather under his helmet for good luck.
Reaching the line between France and Germany,
Joes commanding officer a Lieutenant told Joe to
“jump into the valley that formed this part of the Siegfried line".
Joe later reminisced that Stars and Stripes magazine were there
to take a picture of the brave young Indian warrior
who was probably the first American soldier to cross into Germany.
Guns and pillboxes faced each other across the valley
but Joe made it down to the bottom ok.
It was a fierce battle
and realized they would need dynamite to take out the German pillboxes.
Having demonstrated his skill and versatility on many occasions,
Joe was chosen for the mission to take them out.
His CO said:
“Joe, if anyone can get through, you can.”
Joe selected 6 more men to accompany him.
So his “war party” formed 7 men in total.
In Joe’s words:
“7 men is a good Crow number,
a good lucky number for Crows.”
Joe looked up the valley towards the German positions.
It was a high muddy hill, laced with mines
and all the while strategic positions were covered from the many entrenched German pillboxes.
Joe and his men set off smoke screens and started the ascent.
Seeing the smoke screens, the Germans knew something was up
and rained down fire and hand grenades upon Joe and his men.
It was a tough situation and the men were fearful,
but Joe reassured them and said:
“Follow me, we’ll be alright.”
Getting up on the hill Joe and his men took out the German positions with dynamite.
Finally able to rest, they were given a hot meal for their deeds.
By leading a war party and coming back safely and victoriously,
Joe had now completed 3 of the 4 deeds needed to become a Crow War Chief.
The final deed that needed to be completed
was to steal an enemy’s horse.
Horses were traditionally prized by the Crow.
But this was a mechanized battlefield in 1945
so this last deed was unlikely to be fulfilled…
that is until fate played its hand.
Late one evening while scouting in Germany
Joe spotted a group of enemy officers on horseback!
The Germans rode off and headed down to a valley
unsaddled their horses and put them in a small corral
and headed inside a house inside the valley.
While Joe was watching the house from a distance,
4 German officers marched up the road.
Spotting Joe, they shouted to him:
“Halt!”
Incredibly, they then saluted him,
put their hands behind their heads and offered their surrender...
along with the 200 German soldiers accompanying them!
The war was coming to an end and they saw their opportunity to surrender to an American.
Joe wasn’t to be distracted though and he sent them towards his unit
and carried on staking out the corral.
Observing the house throughout the night, Joe’s company arrived.
At daybreak, Joe told his commanding officer:
“Give me 5 minutes and I’ll go and take care of them horses.”
The CO agreed.
Drawing upon his skill,
Joe stealthily approached the corral,
and carefully opened the big white gate that was holding the horses in.
Finding the best horse,
Joe made an Indian bridle out of rope,
slipped it over the horse’s neck and jumped on.
Stampeding 50 horses out of the corral Joe let out a Crow battle cry.
Woken from their slumber by an Indian warrior,
the German SS officers ran out and were promptly dealt with by the awaiting Americans.
Joe watched the short battle from a rise, on horseback.
He said it felt pretty good to be a foreign boy sitting in Germany
on these beautiful thoroughbred show off horses.
After the war, he returned to his people and told them of his actions.
The tribal elders named him a War Chief for completing all the required deeds.
Joe went on to finish his studies and received a doctorate
as well as receiving three honorary PHDs.
In 2008, more than 60 years after the war,
Joe was awarded the Bronze Star for his service
as well as the Legion d’Honneur for his actions in liberating France.
Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow also received the Presidential medal of Freedom
from President Obama in 2009.
He said in his later years:
“I was proud to serve my country
to bring freedom, prosperity and to help the whole world.”
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