Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow was trained in the old warrior traditions, which he took with him into WWII
n this family photo, Joseph Medicine Crow wears a headdress beaded by his granddaughter and a war shirt from the Custer Battlefield Trading Post in Crow Agency, Montana. The Bighorn Mountains are in the background. Ramona Medicine Crow
CROW AGENCY, Mont. — The last Crow war chief entered the log-cabin trading post at the edge of the Little Bighorn Battlefield just after noon on a Sunday, supported by his son on his left and a cane held firmly in his right hand.
Often, at tribal events such as powwows, he’ll swing his cane overhead in celebration. But on this October afternoon, with wind sweeping across the stretch of southern Montana that’s home to the Crows, the cane simply supported the centenarian — Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow in English or High Bird, his traditional name, in Crow.
Obama ran into some interference when he gave the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom to Joseph Medicine Crow, the last living Plains Native American war chief. The ceremony was on Aug. 12, 2009. Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg / Getty Images
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Last of the Crow war chiefs turns 101 in Montana | Al Jazeera America
n this family photo, Joseph Medicine Crow wears a headdress beaded by his granddaughter and a war shirt from the Custer Battlefield Trading Post in Crow Agency, Montana. The Bighorn Mountains are in the background. Ramona Medicine Crow
CROW AGENCY, Mont. — The last Crow war chief entered the log-cabin trading post at the edge of the Little Bighorn Battlefield just after noon on a Sunday, supported by his son on his left and a cane held firmly in his right hand.
Often, at tribal events such as powwows, he’ll swing his cane overhead in celebration. But on this October afternoon, with wind sweeping across the stretch of southern Montana that’s home to the Crows, the cane simply supported the centenarian — Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow in English or High Bird, his traditional name, in Crow.
Obama ran into some interference when he gave the 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom to Joseph Medicine Crow, the last living Plains Native American war chief. The ceremony was on Aug. 12, 2009. Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg / Getty Images
more
Last of the Crow war chiefs turns 101 in Montana | Al Jazeera America