June 18th, 2016: Joe Medicine Crow
Joe Medicine Crow died April 3rd in Billings MT, at 102. Joe was a unique person. Born on the reservation he earned college degrees,
won a Bronze Star, the French Legion d’honneur, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was an accomplished athlete, could play five instruments and was an avid basketball fan. But he felt the greatest honor was being named the last of Great War Chiefs of the Crow Nation. http://cellar.org/2016/injunjoe.jpg Quote:
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From his memoir, Counting Coup (keeping in mind it was written by an old man who was a historian, and activist, with a masters in anthropology plus one earned and a bag full of honorary PhDs)… http://cellar.org/2016/injunjoe3.jpg I think it sounds a little too bucolic, but later he did cover the hardships of living there when the tribe dwindled to 1800. He took a page from Joe the Plumber when Obama was stumping a group in MT. Joe went with a group of veterans and I'm sure Obama was surprised by this little old WW II Bronze Star winner being a powerful public speaker. Joe called on Obama to raise the status of vets if he ever made it to the White House. But when he got a chance to talk to Obama one on one, unknown to his fellow vets, he was asking Obama to raise the status of Indians from the bottom rung of the ladder. It was some years later Obama presented Joe with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. http://cellar.org/2016/injunjoe2.jpg Anyway, he spent his 102 years in two worlds, one foot in each, and successful in both. He had a big impact on a great many people, many whom he never met but remember him fondly. I don’t see how you can do better than that. link and link |
It's always sad to discover the passing of the final icon of a lost culture. I am so glad this fella was well-spoken and well-documented! The mind boggles at how many people like him we lose every year--people who are not well-known, whose cultures and languages and mythologies die with a single individual. One example I can think of was an old woman in a village of about 300 deep in the taiga forest of central Russia. She was mentioned during a Werner Herzog documentary about this (insane) sable trapper; during one of Herzog's visits to the village outside the trapping season (winter, because bears) her alcoholic grandson accidentally burned their house down and was unable to rescue her. She was the last in their culture who knew the old ways, how to make doll-like effigies of those who had died that were considered crucial to a happy afterlife. We should probably all be glad Joe Medicine Crow was not lost to the world as well.
Someone should make a WWII movie with main characters based on Joe and on Audie Murphy, who repeatedly had to insist that Hollywood producers and directors cut "unbelievable" scenes from movies based on his own war experiences because he didn't think the public would believe them. |
Well done sir. RIP.
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That man led a full life.
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